Athletes
Josh Quinlan Is In Full Control
Josh Quinlan Hopes To Get Back In The Win Column Against Danny Barlow At UFC 298: Volkanovski vs Topuria
The first loss. It’s the gift no one wants, but everyone gets at one point or another, sort of like underwear and socks for your birthday. But in the fight game, it’s something an athlete shakes off immediately as part of the game, or lets it sit in his head for much too long, affecting everything around him.
Josh Quinlan is a cerebral fighter, so after dropping a decision to Trey Waters last April to turn the “0” in his loss column to “1,” you had to wonder whether it was something that stuck with him for a bit.
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“I was able to reflect on it and take the good out of it and not get too down on myself,” said Quinlan, who makes his first start since that bout this weekend against Danny Barlow. “I do reflect that I was a little rigid in that fight. I was one-track minded coming off two knockout wins, and I was rolling on that momentum, looking for another knockout, but that's not always the case.”
Most fighters say that the knockout comes when you’re not looking for it. Quinlan, who scored KOs in four of his six pro wins, was looking for it. It didn’t show up. Add in the fact that he was fighting a six-foot-five welterweight on short notice, and it became a long night in a hurry.
“He was a great counter fighter,” said Quinlan. “He knew how to manage distance, he knew how to handle pressure fighters, and that was my downfall. I was just looking for the big shot and I didn't have the footwork to be able to close that distance, and he exposed that on me in that fight. I commend Trey Waters for his level and his martial arts skills, and I worked on that. I went back to the drawing board, and even though it was a tough situation to have a loss and getting busted up, I learned from it and I grew from it. And I'm looking forward to coming out a new fighter. I'm fighting someone with similar attributes (as Waters). I'm fighting another counter fighter, really lengthy, but I believe I have the skills and I've made the adjustments to solve that puzzle and come out victorious.”
Not one word from Quinlan about the change in opponent, the short time to prepare for that opponent, and the physical matchup which would give anyone fits, let alone someone with less than ten fights. That’s classy, and in this day and age, it’s something to point out.
“I believe everything happens for a reason, and if it didn't happen this past fight, it would've happened in the future,” said Quinlan. “So I'm glad it happened sooner in my career so I could grow as a fighter, and that's my goal. Growth is the main focus for me, and whether it's personal growth or growth as a martial artist, I always want to be a little better than I was, and if it has to be hard moments where I have to a loss to learn from and grow from, then so be it. The last thing I want to be is the same fighter I was in my past fight. So if I can come out different, look like a new fighter, not revert back to my old ways of trying to load up on a shot, then I've done my job and I've grew as a fighter. And even if this Danny Barlow has my number, I'm coming out with a different game plan of being better than I was. So I believe I'm going to come out victorious because of the work I put in and the adjustments I've made.”
Josh Quinlan Lands An Early Left Hook KO In His UFC Debut | UFC Fight Night: Vera vs Cruz
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Josh Quinlan Lands An Early Left Hook KO In His UFC Debut | UFC Fight Night: Vera vs Cruz
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That’s everything you want to hear out of fighter, especially for one trying to make his way through the shark tank known as the UFC welterweight division. And to get to where he wants to go, Quinlan knows that Saturday night can’t be his annual appearance in the Octagon.
“Man, if it was my choice, I would've wanted a little more last year, but this year I have some good visions,” said Quinlan, who fought just once in 2022 and 2023. “I talked to my management group, told them my projections, and this is a start of a good year. I'm glad it's in the first couple months, and if no injuries get sustained, I'm looking to get back in there and be active, for sure.”
If the 31-year-old starts getting regular reps, he’s shown that he has the skill, power and toughness to make some noise at 170 pounds. Are there areas to be worked on? Absolutely, but that’s the case for everyone at his level of experience. So what separates those in his peer group. It may be the ability to handle everything else that goes along with being a UFC fighter. Some can manage for a while, but not a long while; others are made for the spotlight. Quinlan is a quiet sort, but he doesn’t seem bothered by the bright lights or being constantly asked questions by strangers.
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“I do have a great mentor and coach, Michael Costa,” said Quinlan. “He's been in there since the beginning, and he had a tough career, as well. An injury led to his retirement, and it wasn't his choice. There are things that aren't our choice that happen to us, but we have to make the best of it. And he kept that martial arts mentality. It didn't change who he was; he applied that work ethic and that discipline to another venture, which is public speaking and going into the philosophy of life. I believe there's a lot of philosophy in martial arts, and I like the quote that life mimics art and art mimics life. It's like a reflection of each other, and I believe that we learn a lot about each other or we learn a lot about ourselves through this martial arts journey, but it doesn't have to be martial arts.
You can learn about yourself in different ways, but martial arts allows you to test yourself and get out of your comfort zone, and it keeps you humble. And I'm glad I'm on this journey and I'm not going to let it change who I am to try to make a certain persona while I'm here. I'm going to stay true to the morals that I was brought up in and the mentors that have shaped me.”
That’s a lot of wisdom and you would assume a lot for Quinlan to think about going into a fistfight on Saturday. It is…until the Octagon door shuts. Then “Bushido” lets that “just scrap” Hawaiian take over.
“I'm just looking forward to the next bout,” he said. “I've been working hard. My coach has been pushing me physically and also feeding my mind, and I feel like I've sown the right seeds, so I'm going to reap the benefits in that cage.
“I fight with my heart, I fight with my spirit, and my coach tells me to remove the emotion,” Quinlan adds. “He says that the emotion is just a gas pedal. You can turn on your emotion or ride on the brake. If you don't have control of it, you'll run into a wall, you'll go out and crash. So I'm just controlling the emotions, but turning it up when I need to.”
UFC 298: Volkanovski vs Topuria took place live from Honda Center in Anaheim, California on February 17, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
