Billy Quarantillo is currently getting ready for his next UFC fight, a bout with Gabriel Benitez on July 17, but he’s been training to be a fighter since his childhood days in Buffalo.
Quarantillo, a Sabres and Bills fan, grew up playing football and hockey and relished the physicality of the sports, perhaps a little too much, which led him to combat sports and eventually UFC.
Part of Quarantillo’s rowdy upbringing that included getting into “tons” of fights included Bills tailgates, where he was introduced to Bills Mafia, and the group’s well-known tradition of slamming themselves or others through tables to get ready for the game.
Not much has changed, as Quarantillo can still sometimes be found putting someone through a table in Buffalo.
“There’s a couple videos of me putting people through tables,” Quarantillo told Pete Hoffman on the latest episode of The Fight Fan. “I went to the Jacksonville game and threw a guy through a table just for fun. I grew up going to Bills games, and I thought it was normal…then everyone had video cameras and everyone would talk about how crazy Bills fans were, and I was like ‘oh wow, watching it from this perspective, we are pretty wild.’”
The Buffalo native watched his Bills come one game short of a Super Bowl appearance last season, and knows if this current core is able to get over that final hump, his hometown would be up for grabs after years of disappointment.
“I think we have a window now,” Quarantillo said. “Last year we had a chance, didn’t get it done/ I think we have the next two or three years with this team. We have a window with Josh Allen…I’m praying for a Super Bowl and I cannot imagine what Buffalo will turn into if they do win the Super Bowl.”
While the loss to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship was disappointing, Quarantillo knows from years of experience, and now from looking at a nearby divisional foe, that things could be a lot worse.
“The Jets are about as low as the Sabres are right now,” Quarantillo said.
Quarantillo also grew up a Sabres fan, and although he’s lived in Tampa Bay for the past decade, where the Lightning are looking to build the start of a dynasty with a second straight Stanley Cup this season, he will never change his allegiance, and will never lose his Buffalo-bred fighting spirit.
Lately, that energy hasn’t been focused on breaking tables at Bills tailgates. It’s on Benitez, who was brought in as his new opponent after Herbert Burns suffered an injury that forced him out of the fight. But Quarantillo believes it was enough notice to make the preparation adjustments and come out on top.
“It’s a total stylistic change in fights,” Quarantillo said. “It’s exciting. I think he’s a little more dangerous on his feet, and that’s always exciting to me, to go in there against guys that are looking to knock my head out.”
Listen to Quarantillo’s full interview on The Fight Fan below!
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