Billy Quarantillo explains why he was frustrated by the ending to his fight with Damon Jackson, hopes for “an exciting matchup” next time out

Billy Quarantillo knew his scrap with Damon Jackson at UFC Nashville would be a dog fight.

Quarantillo was coming off a first-round KO loss to Edson Barboza back in April and knew he needed to get back into the win column. Yet, in the first round, Jackson was able to use his wrestling to grind on Quarantillo and win the open five minutes, which is exactly what Billy was expecting.

“Yeah, I knew he was going to come out super aggressive with his wrestling. That is the reason why he had success on the feet is because I knew he was going to shoot,” Quarantillo said to BJPENN.com. “I knew his striking isn’t very good compared to his wrestling. The first round was going to be very similar to how it played out and I think the third attempt he finally got me to the ground. I knew when the first round ended, I knew I would begin to take over.”

Although Billy Quarantillo had lost the first round, he had a ton of confidence going into the second as he felt like Damon Jackson was gassing out.

“I had a ton of confidence because I knew how much he worked to get to those positions. In the second round, he shot a takedown right away and he wasn’t even close to getting it,” Quarantillo said. “I started to invest in the body shots and wear him down even more. Once I started to open up I knew I was taking over the fight.”

In the second and third rounds, Billy Quarantillo really began to take the fight over and landed heavy shots on the feet. Although he didn’t get the finish, he was sure he had done enough to win the fight.

Billy Quarantillo wants an exciting matchup next

However, he says it was frustrating that Jackson jumped up on the cage and acted like he won. To make it worse for Quarantillo, the camera panned to Jackson not him after the final bell rang.

“There were points in the fight I thought he was hanging on for dear life, but he proved to be durable. But, when the fight ended I knew I won,” Quarantillo said. “Then, he jumped up on the cage and I’m like what the f**k is this guy doing. I finally watched the fight, and it is frustrating that he jumped up on the cage and the camera goes to him so it looks like he won when he clearly didn’t. So, the ending of the fight was super frustrating for me.”

Although Billy Quarantillo was frustrated with how it ended, he did get the unanimous decision win.

Now, the hope for Quarantillo is to return at the year-end pay-per-view against whoever will make it an exciting fight.

“There are a few guys that I am looking at. I’ll be calling out some guys on social media this week for sure. I just want an exciting matchup, the rankings don’t matter because I know I’m one fight away from a big fight anyway,” Quarantillo concluded.