Quarantinecast Episode #107
Landon Quiñones is a mixed martial artist who is scheduled to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series as a lightweight. The Sanford MMA prospect is 5-1 as a professional which includes four stoppage victories.
Transcript
Landon Quiñones: All right, we are back with the 107th edition of the quarantine cast, i’m very excited for this one. I have landon quinones who’s competing on the contender series um. I think this tuesday uh it’s actually on tuesday, this time, not wednesday, uh. Without further ado, i’m gon na bring him in uh he’s five and one he fights out of stanford mma as well as att. So we’re gon na talk a little bit about that, as well as upcoming fight. So hey man, how you doing i’m very good? How are you not too bad? How has the uh the pandemic been treating you pretty terrible at first, but now, obviously it’s the um. The tails have turned into my favor, so uh, i’m happy. I get this opportunity on contender and hopefully i get a chance to change my life, huge news you’re competing on the contender series. So how are you feeling too, if just a few days out now, i think four days out hungry, that’s about it! Aside from that, i’m pretty optimistic um the weight cut is pretty necessary because it’s locking me in and making me really not think much about the fight, so i’m just chilling just getting through it. Speaking for myself, i put on a a few pounds throughout the pandemic. Um so how’s the how’s, the wake up in uh any different than usual. Well, they called me um um about 20 days ago, and i was supposed to fight on the 22nd of november on the titan fc card in dominican republic um. So i was actually really had really really heavy when they called me for the fight uh regardless i’m a professional and i’ll never miss weight, but i’m a little heavier than i’d like to be. I really realistically wish i was about, like eight pounds lighter right now, but i’ll get it done. Nonetheless, it is what it is. It’S going. Okay, i mean just. I just have to suffer a little bit earlier than i’d like, but it’s cool. It is what it is. How did you get? How did you get the news that you were competing on the contender series and how did you take it? Well, um uh. My coach has been managing me for a long time. I recently signed with iridium sports agency and uh jason house communicates with my coach and um. I was training at a goat shed in miami. I actually don’t train up american top team by the way i only trained out of stanford and goat shed. So i was training in miami in wynwood and i was in the middle of practice and uh. My coach over there got a call from my other from my striking coach who was in contact with jason house. He actually put the phone on speaker phone and they actually recorded my reaction, so uh, obviously like my coach, took it because he knows the answer that i’m gon na say when they call the big boss calls or the big show calls you don’t say. No. So i was, i was distraught, but i mean i was shocked. It was pretty surreal, but it’s an exciting experience and i think i belong in the big show. I think i’m ready for that next level. So uh, let’s go um. It’S go time. I’M ready to go, were you surprised, were you surprised to get it so early in your career, i mean especially at 155 and 145, where the division stacked in the ufc. Were you surprised that that you got the call with only six fights in absolutely not? I feel like i’m a high level fighter. I mean i train with some of the best guys in the world over at stanford mma. I’Ve trained with guys during that ufc caliber. I’Ve trained with many ufc veterans, bellator veterans, and i i train at the highest level and i’m and i’ve displayed great composure in my fights on big shows like titan, fc and bellator as well. So i feel like i’m ready for that big stage. It doesn’t make a difference to me. What’S going on and plus it’s a new era, man there’s a whole new breed of fighters coming out, um uh realistically records are just a number at this point. You know the guys coming up that have the same records with me are very skilled, very tough individuals and we’re ready to take over man i with the old in with the new. What are your thoughts on uh shaheen santana? I mean very, very dangerous fighter. He’S 6-0 as a pro and undefeated as as an amateur. What are your thoughts on him? Uh? I think he’s tough, i mean he’s athletic. I mean you know, he’s got heart. I question a lot of things. I question his conditioning. I don’t really think his wrestling is very strong. I don’t think his striking is very strong. I think he’s just very long. He doesn’t really have a goal of what he’s trying to accomplish with on the feet. He’S just got very good physical attributes he’s got a good front, kick and he’s got a slick, a slick, uh front choke game. But aside from that, i don’t really see him much as a threat. Well, obviously he’s a threat. I don’t want to say it like that, because everyone’s a threat, but i feel like i’m way, a way better fighter everywhere. I feel like i have a strong heart. A strong will um, i’m very motivated, and i just i don’t know. I just don’t feel like anyone can take this from me. My confidence is through the roof and i’m ready to just take. What’S mine, you know i’m not sleeping on him, i’m not putting him out there. I got dropped in my last fight. I know i respect the fight game greatly. I know anything can happen, but if i show up on fight night and i’m focused and in shape the way i i can be, then i don’t think there’s any 55 in the world that can beat me. Do you find it harder to to prepare for an opponent that doesn’t have that loss? I mean. Obviously, if there’s a loss on someone’s record, you can kind of okay. So he’s you know we’re naked choke, that’s his weakness, but when someone doesn’t have a loss, do you find it harder to prepare for uh? It really doesn’t make a difference to me. As i said, records are just a number. I look at a lot of his fights one, even though he did squeak out victories in his fights and little slick, submissions and transitions. He was losing a lot of the fights that he’s won in his record. Um also number two great fighters find a way to adapt great fighters find a way to win, and i’m one of those guys that i believe i’m a great fighter and i feel like i will find a way to win and like whatever, whatever opportunity is uh Present itself, i will take it, you know or i’ll, create opportunity for myself to get a finish or get the win. I need so i’m not really worried about that. I don’t need to look at film. I don’t need to look at anything like that. I know i’ve watched them a little bit, but you don’t need to think into it like that at the end of the day, it’s a fight, whether i’m in front of a million people, whether i’m in an alley like you know what i’m gon na get a Full training camp and work all these positions in a street fight when someone’s trying to come up to me, no, i’m not at the end of the day, you got ta dumb it down. This is a fight and it is what it is. So, were you primarily training at stanford mma for this one? Is that where you mainly did your camp? Well, i split my camp in two. I had a lot of personal issues during this fight camp um i trained mainly at stanford, because that’s where i i do most of my practices in the morning, but i also train at the ghost shot academy in miami under uh coach, asim zahi he’s been uh, Helping me a lot with my mma game, my grappling game, my strategic stuff, uh, so uh. Basically, what happened was. I was training at stanford, basically for the first four to like i want to say between four to six weeks in my camp, because i did was training 10 weeks already. I was a little heavy, but it was, i was still in good shape. I was just a lot bigger than i needed to be um. I was training training over there and then uh i had a falling out with a roommate ended up moving out of his house. Then i was pretty much homeless, so i moved to miami and to uh stay with my coach over there once that happened. While i was living in my car engine actually blew out, so i couldn’t even make it to deerfield. I was in wynwood in miami going. I’M driving 45 minutes north of deerfield and with no vehicle. I couldn’t make it up there. So i split the second half of my camp at the goat shed fully and it all worked out. I was able to make it happen regardless. You know it’s. It’S really baffling to me how how guys are able to kind of overcome these things. You know, usually you know if i’m going to get into a fight. I want everything to be perfect. So how do you? How do you balance that? How do you say you know what i am going through these hard times and how do you? How do you kind of stay motivated, even though these things are happening to you? Well, i put my whole life into this man. Um in life, nothing’s perfect, there’s always going to be setbacks. There’S nothing! That’S going to go completely smooth i’ve had fights where i walk out to the fight too cold. I forget a hoodie. I’Ve had fights where my opponent walks out and i wasn’t able to get my phone when i’m supposed to turn pro yeah. I mean i’ve had financial struggle, i’ve had a family struggle, i’ve had yeah, i mean life, life is uh, is tough and it’s never perfect and tough times. Don’T last tough people do it. Realistically, it doesn’t matter as long as i with my work ethic and how my will to win. I’M gon na put in the work, regardless whether i have to put extra hours, because the training’s lighter whether i have to go or push myself a little harder to practice. Whether i have to do extra sessions, it doesn’t matter, i’m gon na get the work done and i’m gon na make it happen, because this is what i do. This is what i love to do is what i wan na do, and this is what i will succeed doing, who is your uh, your primary training partners going into this one? Am i crazy to think that i saw a picture of you in mike perry. Uh. No you’re, not, i actually did spar mike perry during this training camp a little bit. How was that he’s? A big dude man he’s super strong um. I did really well with him. You know he’s a tough dude. I like him. I like him as a person. Um he came in a few times. I didn’t really get a lot around him. It wasn’t like i was having those like specific cage rounds with him and i just gave him a couple rounds to help him uh because he was training, training robbie. I really didn’t like doing that because i trained at stanford with robbie but roger crawl was my head. Striking coach was training mike perry. So what am i going to do? Tell my head coach knows so i gave him a couple of rounds. You know uh, it is what it is, but uh he’s a big dude man. I remember the first round. He grappled me and he back arched me and obviously i don’t want to pop my shoulders. So i didn’t post my head just like laid there and took it i’m like all right, cool, so uh yeah, um, uh i but uh. My main training partners have pretty much been uh. While i was at stanford, i was training a lot with evan elder uh. My boy delano taylor, uh danny collazo, uh, well, i’ve been at goach. I’Ve been training. My boy uh joannsie valdez he’s a division; one all-american um four-time juco national champion wrestler cuban dude um i’ve been trained a lot with uh wait. We repeat that repeat that two times four-time high school american two-time, ncaa, qualifier and two-time juco, national champ. Sorry sorry he’s right here with me: uh the quarantine, so he he’s a high level wrestler um. What else i’m trying to think yeah man? That’S probably the main people that said, oh, my buddy angel alvarez he’s a 10-time judo national champion from cuba, so i was doing a lot of grappling with him as well. I didn’t really get much striking work done in this camp like i’d like to, but i was getting my pads. I got my sparring in uh, my boy, chris boso i’ve been training with a lot um. Oh, i also put a lot of rounds in with mike davis he’s a ufc vet as well yeah. I forgot to mention him. That’S a good name that i was working with a lot yeah mike davis is very, very underrated, very, very good, very dangerous. He had a good run in the ufc. I thought he’s still he’s just been injured, yep yep, yep um. All right, i want to i mean back in june. You could you you were able to compete for the first time since the pandemic. What was it like? Competing in the empty arena, man i’m strong mentally, so i don’t really feel it makes much of a difference. Um. I can fight whether it’s in front of a million people or nobody um. It was a little eerie. The one thing i did like is that i was able to really hear my coaches. You know i, but i like fighting in front of crowds, because you really do feel the difference as far as the energy is concerned, but i liked it was cool. I want to talk about one point in your career that i thought was really the turning point. Um it was that loss. It was very, very close, razor thin. What was the biggest lesson you learned from that loss? One stop cutting so much weight. That’S gon na affect your performance, because that was a big thing. I realized um after that fight. I started talking about the move up because i realized, after the weight cuts, how bad my body blows up, um being a 45 that was the first fight after the fight. I actually got up in the 180s after the weight cut, because my body was just holding on to everything and retaining water retaining everything i was eating so uh. That was a problem that started to happen. Uh also another thing get the [ __ ] off the fence. You know learn some wall work get better. You have more of a sense of urgency when people are stalling me out. Obviously i don’t want to look at the rest to save me, because i should have been able to get off the fence. You know i worked a lot of my wrestling after that fight a lot of my cage wrestling, a lot of my volume. I worked on a lot of things, man and i feel like i’ve hit that next level and i’ve fixed those little kinks for sure another. Another point was was really early on in your career as an amateur you didn’t have, i guess the most successful amateur career going three and three: what was the so? What what was the? What was the key there to turning it around before going pro? Oh man, honestly, i had no grappling. I really was a stubborn guy. I loved striking – and i was one of those guys that oh our game plan to be landed, let’s push him to the fence or let’s grapple him and like just hold him down and you’re going to win. You know he’ll get tired and they were right. You know i, i really was stubborn at the stubborn that i didn’t want to work on my weaknesses. I just wanted to be flashy. I wanted to do what i wanted to do and it’s realistically about humbling yourself. You know what really humbles you is when you find yourself on a losing record when you commit yourself to something full-time in your life. You know i’m sitting here, losing fights and doing all this [ __ ] when, like i’m, not even good at the one thing, i’m supposed to be good at really makes you uh do a lot of self-reflection and look at yourself in the mirror. Wonder if you really want to do this or not, you know, and i’ve been through a lot of my life and i’ve been through a lot of adversity. I’Ve had a lot of people. Tell me i can’t do things so um. I was very motivated to just keep pushing and not give up and not quit, because i’ve quit everything else. I’Ve done in my life, whether it’s come to sports projects, jobs, anything you can think of. I’Ve been a guy that always used to quit and uh in the fight game. It’S something that i’ll never do, because i have a heart of a warrior and i feel like you need to push forward when tough times happen. You know yeah for sure i mean you hear so many times guys who have losses early on in their career and then they just blow up and that’s kind of what kind of what happened to you and it’s almost good that it happened as an amateur rather Than a than as a professional, that’s what amateurs are for. I feel like that’s where you get your experience, you’re not getting paid. You know, half the time your fights aren’t seen. You know i count them as real losses for sure. I don’t look at myself as a 5-1 fighter. I definitely count my amateur fights as fights, because it’s still real man there’s ground and pounds in the face you get injured. I’Ve seen plenty of nasty knockouts in the amateurs. You know it’s still a fight. It’S the same feeling the same pressure just in that moment the pressure is different than what it is now the way you handle. It is a lot different than how you would handle it now, but at the end of the day, it’s always the same thing. It’S still a fight, so i have had losses. I have had tough times i’ve faced diversity. I’Ve been in those those highs. I’Ve been in those lows and i know how to handle them now. So i i know how to not take put pressure on myself. That’S why i feel like i’m a very composed fighter and that’s an attribute. I have that a lot of people don’t so i kind of built this platform on making predictions, and i know a lot of guys don’t like doing it. But there’s a big title fight coming up and i couldn’t go without asking alex perez competing against davis and figueroa who looked unbelievable? Do you have a prediction for that fight man? I like alex perez a lot. I think he’s got solid boxing. I think he has a solid low kick game. I think he moves very well very good striker. I haven’t really seen much of his grappling here. I can’t really remember. Um davidson is very good as well a striking i feel, but i don’t really even think, especially that he’s good he’s just such an athletic presence that if he touches you he can seriously hurt you. So i mean i don’t feel like i’ve seen enough of figueros to be to like predict a knockout or see like how he’s gon na like to see him a little more. But if i were to go with anyone, i’d go with my guy alex perez for sure all right, i’ll ask you a couple questions, a couple more questions and i’ll. Let you go back to your uh, your quarantine, there um so for people who haven’t watched, you compete. What can they expect from you on november 10th? They can expect a high pressure fight, an exciting fight, an explosive fight and, i’m 99 sure a finish within the first two rounds. If you could compare yourself to any fighter in the ufc today, who would it be max holloway, nick nick diaz, if he’s still in the ufc, all right? Who else yeah oh fuse them together there, you go something like that: all right, perfect and last uh. Last question: is there any sponsors anyone you want to thank or anyone you want to plug? Yes, thank you to uh motion store for hooking me up with my fight camp shirts, um pyramid pools, uh, mainstream cultivation, uh trying to think man. I got got a few uh, my team. At the goshen academy, my sanford mma crew, uh coach, henry hoove coach g jones, uh asim, zaidi, roger crawl, brandon lewis, uh, i’m matt, my coach. I met from symmetry, uh fitness, uh, rapid symmetry, combat team, my training partners and, i believe, that’s it for now, all right man, thank you for the time and one more creating better day cbd. Thank you guys so much for supporting me for this fight camp. All right, perfect, there you have it man. Thank you very much for the time. I appreciate it. You’Re four days out, so can’t wait to watch. You go out there and compete and hopefully get a contract. Yes, sir i’ll be taking. What’S mine baby, let’s go all right, man, all the best, have a good one brother! Thank you all right. There you have it lyndon. Quinones uh he’s competing on the contender series on november 10th. That’S in four days at the time of recording it’s probably gon na be three days at the time i post this so make sure you guys tune in i’ve, been a fan of his for a little while now he’s uh he’s a killer man, and i can’t Wait to see what he’s gon na do and uh remember uh if you haven’t yet donate to movember, to raise awareness for prostate cancer. I have to wear this, so the least you could do is drop a little donation and if you can’t do that, be sure to like comment and subscribe – and i will see you guys next time –
