By Thomas Gerbasi

 

Ask Nathan Quarry whether he deserves a shot at UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin this Saturday night at UFC 56 – Full Force, and you’ll get the answer any fighter would give.

 

“I sure hope so,” he said. “But whether I deserve one or not, I’m getting one.”

 

Quarry chuckles, knowing that the talk swirling around his first UFC championship bout is just that – talk. And he’s also been in the game long enough to know that perception is not always reality. So he doesn’t sweat the small stuff.

 

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” said Quarry. “People don’t see the whole story behind the scenes. There have been many, many people who have fought for the title that have had – literally - two or three fights in their entire career, or have come into the UFC, had one fight, and then fought for the title. I’ve had three fights for the UFC; they’ve all been won by knockout. I’ve had 15 fights, with my only loss coming by decision in a fight where I sent my opponent to the hospital anyway, so there’s a much larger story behind the scenes than just what they saw on TV. Obviously there are a lot of great competitors in the UFC that deserve title shots. First and foremost in my mind is (David) Loiseau. He is a great competitor, and he just finished off Evan Tanner, but what are you gonna do? Have him fight one month after he just beat a very game opponent? That’s just not realistic. Everybody needs to take their time and he’s not going anywhere. He’ll be next for whoever wins this next fight.”

 

It’s the mature, well-measured outlook that has defined Quarry since his emergence on the UFC scene thanks to his appearance on The Ultimate Fighter reality show. There are no flip answers or outrageous sentiments, just a no-nonsense demeanor that can only be broken by a deadpan humor that can break down all defenses. But even though the “Rock” won’t spew forth venom at his detractors, he does take issue with the people who call him an overnight sensation.

 

“That’s the American way,” Quarry admits. “Most people have a hard time seeing and understanding all the processes that have gone into making people an ‘overnight success’. They look at Donald Trump and say ‘oh, overnight he became so successful.’ They don’t see the decades he spent working, the times that he was completely bankrupt on his way to success. The same thing with me. They don’t see the nine years of training that I’ve done. They don’t see me doing ‘two a days’ year after year after year. They don’t see me training with world champions, fighters that were ranked number one in the entire world, year after year. But that’s fine. I hope people can open their minds up a little more and understand things, but there are always gonna be people that don’t want to understand or don’t want to listen, and unfortunately there are quite a few of those people out there as well who have their opinions made up already that will never compete and don’t know what it’s like to compete, so they’re just gonna sit back on the sidelines and make comments.”

 

So after nine years in the gym with Team Quest, 15 fights in every locale from Richmond, Virginia to Boise, Idaho, and dozens of bumps and bruises and aches and pains in places some of us don’t even know we have, let’s just sat that Quarry has earned his right to compete in the UFC. Add a 3-0, three knockout record in the Octagon, and that leaves him as worthy as anybody to fight for Franklin’s 185-pound title. The only question that should remain is whether Quarry, or anyone, is good enough to end Franklin’s reign. It’s a daunting prospect, but Quarry subscribes to the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ school of thought, where he trains for every fight like its Armageddon.

 

“I’ve always approached every single fight like it was the most important fight,” said Quarry. “I’ve never understood people who say, ‘well this fight isn’t that big of a deal, I’m not gonna train that hard.’ When can you afford to lose a fight, when can you afford to have a loss on your record? Every time you get one of those it’s a major setback. So I’ve approached every single fight, from my first amateur fight till now, exactly the same, like this was the biggest fight in the world and I’m gonna train for it like it was a world championship. My very first amateur fight, I trained two and a half months non-stop, doubles almost every day, didn’t go out once, didn’t drink, didn’t party – nothing like that - for a fight that lasted a minute and 45 seconds. But that’s the way I prepare. I take things seriously and that’s why my fights end quickly if I get my way. I’ve done my preparation, I’ve done my work, and if it goes into the later rounds, I’ve put in the time necessary as well.”

 

This is a ‘show me, don’t tell me’ society though, and as such, Quarry has only put in a combined six minutes and 36 seconds of action into his three-fight UFC stint. So who’s to say if he can compete in a five round war with Franklin?

 

“I’ve been training with Randy Couture for years,” said Quarry. “I was one of his main training partners as he would get ready for these 25 minute fights, and I would wake up in the morning and go with him for his endurance training to get ready for a five round fight. So, for me, it’s nothing new. I know everybody sees me fighting for three and half minutes, then two and a half minutes, and then a minute and a half, so they have no clue about my endurance. But I actually fought one fight many years ago against Mike Whitehead where we fought in a small organization and the first round was 25 minutes. We fought non-stop, no breaks, for 25 minutes, and it was an action-packed 25. And when that round was over, we had to come back out for a five minute overtime. So I fought for a half hour in one sitting. I know what it’s like to be able to fight for half an hour. I’ve fought longer (in one fight) than just about anybody in the game. I know what it’s like to have to go through those wars.”

 

And truth be told, Quarry wouldn’t mind getting into a longer bout to show what he can truly do in the Octagon. To us civilians, that’s a crazy notion because if we had the option of ending a fight early in the first round or fighting to a grueling three round or five round decision, most (maybe all) of us would opt for the quick KO. But that’s why we’re not fighters. To a pro fighter, whether it’s a mixed martial artist or a boxer, a quick knockout is nice in terms of getting a victory, but a longer bout lets people know that you can actually fight.

 

“I know if I was to run out and have a very quick knockout, I would look at it like ‘Did I just catch him?’” explains Quarry. “I don’t want that to be a question. Just like with Pete Sell. ‘Did I just catch him with that one punch? He was doing real good before then.’ I would much rather have a definitive victory where I can show my skills and dominate from every aspect, and I think every fighter wants that. We don’t get into this game for the glamour or money or anything; it’s because of the love of competition and how much we enjoy the sport itself. So going in against such a great opponent and getting to show your skills so you can see what you need to work on and what improvements you made is really one of the biggest goals. You learn so much more from a very hard fight than you do from an easy victory.”

 

November 19^th’s bout against Franklin should be a hard fight, whether it goes one round or five. And with these two, either scenario is believable. If someone lands a clean shot early it could be over quick, or if both show the whiskers to take each other’s bombs, it may become a war of attrition where each fighter’s ground game may determine a victor. Quarry isn’t going into the fight with any particular preference as far as where the bout ends up.

 

“I’ve approached every fight as ‘let’s just go and see what happens,’” he said. “Every fight starts on the feet, and from there can go into the clinch, or into a takedown and on to the ground, with striking or jiu-jitsu on the ground, so I’ve approached every fight as I’m just going to do the best that I can in whatever range we end up in.”

 

“I train for every aspect of the game and that’s what makes training for a fight so interesting,” Quarry continues. “It’s not like boxing, where you’ve just got two tools that you’re throwing constantly. In boxing you’ve got footwork, in and out, and combinations and such, but with MMA, your game is just monstrous. It can go any place. You can train for 30-40 years just on jiu-jitsu and not consider yourself a master. Now you add in the judo takedowns, the Greco-Roman takedowns, the freestyle wrestling takedowns, the Muay Thai clinch, kicks, elbows, and knees, and the western boxing, and this game could go on for hundreds of years before you could feel like you’ve learned it all.”

 

Sounds like too much to take in, especially when a split second loss of concentration can have you looking up at the lights wondering why your shoulder is where your elbow should be. Quarry disagrees.

 

“That’s what makes it so exciting,” he said. “You can look at these things and get all stressed out about what’s gonna happen and worry about things you can’t control, or you can just put a smile on your face and say ‘hey, this is why I did this.’ I don’t want to go through my life knowing what’s going to happen every single day. I want to go out and make my own future, roll my dice, and see what happens. Anything can happen in a fight and it’s been shown over and over again. That’s what makes our sport so exciting, that it can go either way at any time. You can look at that and get stressed out about it or you can say ‘man, this is so exciting to see what’s gonna happen in this fight.’ I don’t know what’s gonna happen, nobody else does. We’re just gonna get out there and see what happens.”

 

That’s why they fight the fights, and that’s why, if a UFC middleweight title belt is strapped around his waist Saturday night, Nate Quarry will not only etch his name in the mixed martial arts history books, but he’ll teach a very important lesson to the most important young lady in his life.

 

“I want to be able to show my daughter that belt and say, look, anything that you want to accomplish in your life, you can,” said Quarry. “All it takes is a little hard work and not being afraid to believe a little. You just have to go out there and do the best you can, don’t be afraid to look stupid on occasion because that’s how you really learn, and just go out there. You’ll be amazed at what happens. You might as well dream big because you never know what dreams will come true. Don’t sell yourself short and wish for an ordinary life because if you actually pushed yourself and weren’t afraid to succeed or fail, your wildest dreams can come true.”