Billy Quarantillo plans to “smoke” Damon Jackson at UFC Nashville and prove he belongs: “A finish is what I am after”

Billy Quarantillo is looking to remind everyone just how good he is.

Quarantillo is well-aware that MMA fans only remember people’s last fights. Unfortunately for Quarantillo, his last fight was a KO loss to Edson Barboza in the first round.

Although Quarantillo did get knocked out, he is returning just four months later as he says he had no concussion-like symptoms. He also wanted a quick turnaround to get the bad taste of losing out of his mouth.

“After losing, any fighter can attest that you are only as good as your last fight and everyone remembers your last fight. Especially with it being a high-profile fight, getting knocked out in the co-main event to Edson Barboza,” Quarantillo said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “It was super interesting, before the year, I wanted to be super active, I wanted to fight three times, after the whole weight cut and getting ready for that fight, I figured I’d take a few months off.

“Then, after only fighting for a few minutes, he caught me with that knee, and right after, I basically told my manager I’ll take a couple of days,” Quarantillo continued. “I ended up not having concussion symptoms or any issues with my brain. I took a bit of time off from sparring and they offered me this fight pretty soon after.”

Once Billy Quarantillo was ready to return, he figured he would fight someone near the rankings. With that, when he was offered Damon Jackson at UFC Nashville and wasn’t too surprised with it.

Quarantillo knows Jackson is a tough out

“We both beat Kamuela Kirk, we both just lost in co-main events to top-15 guys, so it makes sense, the fight makes sense. He isn’t the most popular guy, and he definitely isn’t the most exciting guy,” Quarantillo explained. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he is super tough and is a great wrestler. He doesn’t mind taking you down and holding you down and making it boring. That is stuff we have been working on this whole training camp.”

Although Billy Quarantillo knows Damon Jackson can just outwrestle people for 15 minutes, he has confidence in his takedown defense to keep the fight standing. If he does just that, Quarantillo believes he can get a stoppage win, and expects it to happen early.

“I think it will be super exciting. I see it just being an absolute dog fight, I can see us grappling and striking with each other. We will get in a lot of crazy scrambles,” Quarantillo said. “But whatever we have to do to get out hand raised is what I will do. A finish is what I am after, sooner rather than later.”

Should Quarantillo get his hand raised over Jackson at UFC Nashville, he isn’t sure what is next for him. Instead, he says he’s just focused on getting this victory.

“If I can go out there and smoke Damon Jackson and get a big finish, then I am right back to where I wanted to be anyway… “I’m just looking to gout and get a win; I’m not looking past him. I haven’t thought about what’s next or what it does for me, I just want to get back on track,” Quarantillo concluded.