UFC Fight Night: Makhachev vs Moises- Gabriel Benitez vs Billy Quarantillo: Prediction and Analysis

UFC Vegas 31 takes place this Saturday with a lightweight bout between Islam Makhachev and Thiago Moises as the five-round main event. The rest of the card, as always, is stacked with a number of interesting fights. Gabriel Benitez vs Billy Quarantillo being one such fight. 

The two featherweights open the main card at UFC Vegas 31 in a three-round fight. Benitez goes into the fight on the back of an impressive win in his last outing. Quarantillo on the other hand, suffered a loss the last time he stepped into a UFC octagon. 

Ahead of the intriguing featherweight clash, we take a closer look at the strengths and weaknesses of both men and a possible route to victory for both men involved in the fight. 

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Gabriel Benitez vs Billy Quarantillo will be a cracker of a fight at UFC Vegas 31 

Gabriel Benitez made his UFC debut in November 2014 with a submission win over Humberto Brown. He has since fought nine times in the UFC with a record of 6-4. Benitez is currently 1-2 in his last three fights and most recently secured an impressive TKO win over Justin Jaynes in December 2020. He will be aiming to build on that this weekend. 

Billy Quarantillo, on the other hand, made his debut on Dana White’s Contender Series in July 2019. He then went on to win his next three fights in the UFC. Quarantillo succumbed to a loss in his most recent outing in December 2020 against Gavin Tucker. The loss against Tucker put a halt to an eight-fight win streak. He will be aiming to get back into the win column this weekend against Benitez. 

‘Moggly’ has secured an impressive 45% of his wins via submission. Over the course of his UFC career, he has landed an impressive 4.23 significant strikes per minute while absorbing just 2.6 in return. He also averages 0.23 takedowns per 15 minutes and 1.6 submissions in the same time frame. 

Quarantillo has secured most of his wins via T/KO (40%). However, he is also a good striker and has landed 5.28 significant strikes per minute thus far in his UFC career while absorbing 4.08 in return. Quarantillo also averages 1.93 takedowns per 15 minutes and 4.51 submissions in the same time period. 

Quarantillo is the more versatile fighter of the two and has more ways to win the fight as compared to Benitez. This should allow him to bounce back into the win column this weekend. 

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