Nate Quarry started his career as a mixed martial artist with virtually no previous experience and ended up fighting for the Middleweight belt in 2005.
Nate Quarry Post-Fight Interview on Spike TV
Nate Quarry Post-Fight Interview
By Thomas Gerbasi
LAS VEGAS, September 19 – Lightweight contender Kenny Florian threw down a bold gauntlet after his last fight when he declared, “I finish fights.” Tonight at The Pearl at The Palms, Florian lived up to his mantra with a first round submission win over fellow 155-pound standout Din Thomas in the UFC Fight Night main event, which capped off perhaps the best installment of the series since it began in 2005.
“I train to finish people,” said Florian. “I can’t promise I’ll finish every fight, but I promise that I will try to finish.”
Florian led off the scoring early with high kicks, straying low with a thud when he went for the midsection, forcing a brief stoppage of the action. When the action resumed with 3:30 left, Florian kept throwing kicks, but a miss allowed Thomas to get him on the mat briefly.
Once standing, Florian continued to press, and when Thomas shot in with 1:30 remaining in the round and missed face first, apparently hurting himself on the way in, the New Englander jumped on his foe and pounded away with his right hand repeatedly until he worked his way to Thomas’ back. Once there, the end was a mere formality, and Florian sunk in a rear naked choke that produced a tap out at 4:31 of the opening round.
“If (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva calls up with a fight for you,” said Florian as a warning to his fellow contenders, “you better pray it’s not Kenny Florian.”
With the win, Florian improves to 10-3; Thomas falls to 23-8.
Middleweight Chris Leben bounced back from a string that saw him lose three out of four fights, and he did so in spectacular fashion, shaking off two bombs from Terry Martin to land with a crushing shot of his own which ended matters in the third and final round.
Leben (17-4) was impressive in the first round as he mixed up his attack with knees, kicks, punches, and foot stomps, keeping Martin (18-3) from getting into a steady rhythm. But what was apparently a Leben round went for naught with 1:30 left when a slam by Martin was nullified by a fence grab that cost ‘The Crippler’ a point.
The Ultimate Fighter season one alum kept his focus in the second round, and when the bout went to the mat in the fi nal minute, he locked in a triangle choke that drew an appreciative roar from the crowd. Martin weathered the storm and made it out of the round, but now he was forced to pick up the pace in the final stanza if he wanted a shot at winning the bout.
Fatigue was evident on the faces of both fighters in the final round, but Martin fought with an added urgency, perhaps knowing that the fight was in the balance, and he finally landed with more than one punch in a row on Leben, who absorbed the thunder and gamely fired back before being taken down to the mat. Once standing, Martin finally hit the mark with a big right hand that shook Leben, but after Martin landed another right, Leben came back with a left hook on the jaw that laid Martin out and forced a stoppage by Dean at 3:56 of the round.
The winner of season five of The Ultimate Fighter, lightweight rising star Nate Diaz (7-2), began his post-TUF career in impressive fashion, patiently battling it out with Junior Assuncao (6-3) before lowering the boom and submitting his foe late in the first round.
The two lightweights went back and forth on the mat for much of the opening round, with neither man holding a decided edge. Once the two stood though, Diaz landed with a quick left uppercut and another combination that stunned Assuncao and forced him to shoot. Diaz responded like a vet, sinking in a guillotine choke, and after a quick scramble, he got the tap out at the 4:10 mark of the round.
The result of the middleweight rematch between comebacking Nate Quarry and Pete Sell was the same two years later, but the road to Quarry’s knockout win was quite different, as the Oregon native dug himself out of a hole on the scorecards to end the bout in the third and final round.
In their first bout in 2005, Sell was stopped in the first round by Quarry, a controversial stoppage that was deemed too quick by most fans and pundits.
Eager to erase the memory of that first bout, Sell (7-5) came out bombing, hurting Quarry (15-2) with the first right hand he landed. But Quarry, fighting for the first time since back surgery took him out of commission following his loss to then UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin in November of 2005, came back with heavy shots of his own, and it continued this way for much of the first two rounds.
Yet while Quarry was game and got his licks in, Sell’s left hook right cross combination continually hit the mark, and after Sell dropped ‘The Rock’ in the second round, it looked like a matter of time before ‘Drago’ would finish the bout.
In round three though, Quarry would survive another early onslaught of crisp punching by Sell, and he finally landed with a big rig ht hand of his own that sent the New Yorker down to the canvas hard. Quarry hesitated momentarily, then jumped in with one more right to the head, and referee Mario Yamasaki had seen enough, halting the war 44 seconds into the final frame
By Thomas Gerbasi Nate Quarry had finally reached the breaking point.
Tortured by the pain of a degenerative disc condition in his back, the former UFC middleweight title challenger was forced to face the fact that his fighting career was on the verge of ending, and that only a dangerous spinal fusion surgery would save it.
The surgeon didn’t sugar coat things for the Oregon resident either, letting him know that while the surgery could be a success, it could also fail – with fatal consequences.
“Here’s the drawbacks,” he told Quarry.
“You could die on the operating table.”
“You may be paralyzed.”
“The surgery may not work at all and you may still be in pain; you may be in worse pain, or we may cut the pain down by 50 percent.”
“It’s a gamble,” he concluded.
Quarry pondered his options for a moment, and then realized he didn’t have any.
“I don’t see as if I have any choice,” said Quarry, and his doctor agreed to perform the surgery.
“I’ve been told my whole life what I’m gonna be and what I’m gonna do,” explained Quarry, “and now I’ve had to make my own decisions about where I’m gonna end up, so for me, it was a simple decision.”
So on June 14, 2006, Nate Quarry began his biggest fight, and one that, for the first time, he had no say in the outcome of. But when the back surgery was over, the two vertebrae in his back that had been grinding against each other and forcing him to walk and feel like a man 50 years his senior, had fused together. The pain was gone.
The previous three years had been filled with pain followed by anti-inflammatories and ice that would ease his torture, albeit briefly. Quarry would wake up in the morning barely able to walk from his bed to the bathroom, and he couldn’t even lean over the sink to wash his face. Instead, he would support himself on the sink with his left hand and scoop water to his face with the right. Even lifting up his daughter (now seven) was not an option.
But Quarry fought on, taking the pain as an occupational hazard as he burst on the scene with his stint on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. And by the time he fought his way into a 2005 title shot against then-UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin at UFC 56, he was 14-1 in pro MMA, and 3-0 with three TKOs in the Octagon.
“It really never affected any of my fights whatsoever,” said Quarry of his back issues. “There’s no way in hell I will ever use an excuse such as that. But it was one more thing to be thinking about during my training.”
Against Franklin, Quarry would crash hard, getting knocked out in the first round with a shot that will be replayed on UFC highlight reels for perpetuity. Some said it was a case of Quarry being rushed into a title shot; others figured that was the end for Quarry, especially when he didn’t surface f or a wh ile after the defeat. Few knew that it was his back that had given out on him in the aftermath of the Franklin bout, not his desire to keep fighting.
Yet even with the surgery complete, the road back to the UFC was not going to be an easy one. In fact, it was going to be more grueling and would test Quarry more than any fight ever had. But after a childhood and young adulthood being raised in an environment where he was not allowed to play sports or allowed to explore life outside of his home due to his upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness, he was not about to give up on his dream.
“I’m sure that there are much easier ways to make your way through life, I just haven’t figur ed out what they are yet,” he chuckles. “Ever since I was a little kid, I was very restricted in what I was allowed to do. I wasn’t allowed to compete in sports, and that was really something that was a hunger in me. I wanted to do that, I wanted to push myself to the limit and see how good I could be and how good I could be in competition against others, and that was something I wasn’t allowed to do. And finally, when I started living life for myself, then it was like ‘I have no limitations. My limitations are when my body shuts down, because my mind won’t.’”
Quarry’s body hasn’t cooperated so far though, as he has dealt not only with his back issues, but with surgeries for a nose reconstruction, a torn right pectoral muscle, and a broken ankle. He doesn’t cry ‘woe is me’ though.
“These are the cards I was dealt and now we’re gonna play out this hand, and in the end, I’m gonna win,” he said. “Thank God surgery is around to put things together. Some people have a ver y for tunate career where they don’t get injured like this. I haven’t been one of those guys, but at the same time, when I look back at my life and where I came from, I could be so much further away from where I am now. I have friends to this day that grew up very similar to the way that I did, and they’re hardcore alcoholics, have messed up family lives, are on drugs all the time, and are basically living out of their vans. And all I can say when I see them is, ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ It could have been so easy for me - instead of having this drive to make myself something and to show the world that we can be whatever we choose to be - I could have easily just found myself in the bottom of a bottle. But that’s not me and I want to experience what life has to give to the fullest.”
He also wants to set an example for the most important person in his life, his daughter.
“That has been a very huge motivating factor for me and I’ve actually wondered what my life would be like without my little girl,” said Quarry. “Would I have the same drive I have now? So much of what I do is to show her that she can make her life whatever she wants it to be, and I will tell her that constantly. When I was raised, going to college was never an option for me. I was raised to be a manual laborer and live my life as such. But with her, I want her to know that she could pursue any options she wants to in her life and so I set the example for her.”
That example started years ago, but it really kicked in the day after his back surgery when he almost immediately began walking the hospital floor. A week later back in his hotel, his mission was to walk halfway down the hallway and back. Two days after that, the goal was to walk the entire hall. Less than a year removed from fighting for a world championship in one of the world’s most demanding sports, Nate Quarry had to re-learn the simplest movements that we all take for granted.
“Each day was pushi ng the limitations further and further,” he recalled, but with each two steps forward, he would suffer a little setback that let him know that he wasn’t ready to resume training. Whether it was visiting the weight training gym and not being able to do a dip or a back extension, or being cleared to start boxing training and not being allowed to do anything but wrap up and hit his trainer’s hands, it was, as he describes it, “a very excruciating period of time, but at the same time it was very exhilarating to finally know that I was taking my steps back.”
Finally, six months after the surge ry, Quarry got an early Christmas present when his doctors cleared him to begin full training again, and he was going to be a fighter again. Of course, nothing never goes as smoothly as it may seem in a couple of paragraphs, and Quarry was also forced to deal with a split from the gang at Team Quest before he would truly get back on the road to the Octagon.
“I left Team Quest purely because I disagreed with the management style and the way that they were treating the fighters and the team as a whole, so I felt that I needed to voice my opinion and stand up not only for my future and my daughter’s future, but also for the other fighters on the team,” said Quarry of the split. “And so when we had a disagreement, Quest basically said take it or leave it, and I said ‘well, my future depends on this so I guess I’m gonna have to go elsewhere.’ So I definitely miss the training partners, and miss being able to show up at the gym and knowing that 4-5 of my closest friends will be t h ere to give me rounds. But at the same time, now that I’ve broken free and opened my eyes, I’ve gone out and got individual coaches like I’ve never had before.”
He’s also stayed close with some of this Team Quest teammates, some of whom helped him train recently, and Quarry also went out to Hawaii for a spell to work with another former Team Quest member, Chris Leben. All that was left was to get a fight, and when the call came for him to fight an old nemesis, Pete Sell, on Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas, he eagerly accepted. But to be truthful, Quarry didn’t care who the man on the other side of the Octagon was – he was just happy to be fighting anyone again.
“I think its kinda academic who the opponent is,” he admitted. “I was just looking for a tough opponent to prove to myself again what I’m capable of and to show that to everyone, so I’m just grateful that Pete accepted the fight and I’ve got the same opinion of Pete now that I had before, that h e is a very tough guy, and you can see that in all of his fights. There’s no quit in him whatsoever, so he’s going to be coming at me and looking to show that the last fight was a fluke, and I’m looking to show that I didn’t just get lucky, and that’s the way it was meant to be. So I think it’s gonna be a great fight for the fans because we’re gonna be standing there bangin’ or going down to the ground and beating on each other. It’s just gonna be an exciting fight all the way around, and I look forward to that. Those are the best fights.”
In their first fight, in August of 2005, Quarry rocked and dropped Sell, with referee Cecil Peoples quickly stepping in to halt the fight in controversial fashion. The win propelled Quarry into his title shot against Franklin and all was well in the world for him at the time. Since then though, life and the middleweight division has changed significantly. That’s a good thing on both counts for Quarry.
“I think it’s really exciting,” h e said. “The UFC has always been the best organization around and now they’re pulling in fighters from all around the world. And with so many cards now, you get to see all these fighters. It used to be five UFC cards a year, so basically it was one, two, three, title shot, you’re out. Now there are so many cards and so many good fighters that for the fans, it’s just gotta be a wonderful buffet because they get to see their favorite fighter and maybe he’s not the titleholder, or maybe he’s not in the top ten in the world, but there’s enough action out there that he can fight in the UFC for several years and build himself up to where he will be a title contender. That’s exciting for me as a fan and as a fighter.”
For fans, Quarry’s return is pretty exciting in itself if he can regain the form that made him one of the top 185-pound prospects in the game two years ago. If he does, and makes it to the top, it will be MMA’s equivalent of Jim Braddock’s ‘Cinderella Man’ story. I f h e doesn’t, hey, he still made it back to the big show despite the odds, and that alone makes him someone to root for.
“I’m gonna continue to fight, not only as a career move, but as a lifestyle choice, and to show that I can be a motivation to everyone out there that has any difficulty that they may be presented with in their lives,” said Quarry. “They can look at what I’ve gone through and say, ‘man, if he went through major back surgery and now he’s fighting for the greatest mixed martial arts organization in the world again, then I can get through whatever problems I may have.’ That was a huge motivating factor – not just for my livelihood, but also to show others that your life can be more than you’re told it has to be.”
IN CASE Y'ALL HAVEN'T HEARD, I'LL BE STEPPING BACK IN THE CAGE ON SEPT 19TH. ME AND PETE SELL ARE HAVING ANOTHER GO 'ROUND.
YEP, IT'S BEEN A WHILE. BUT, IN CASE YOU HADN'T HEARD, I HAD SOME PRETTY SERIOUS SHIT TO DEAL WITH. JUST OVER A YEAR AGO, I HAD SPINAL FUSION IN MY BACK. SINCE THEN, MY BIG CONCERN HAS BEEN TRAINING AND GETTING MYSELF BACK INTO FIGHTING SHAPE.
I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT I AM CURRENTLY GETTING THE BEST COACHING I'VE EVER HAD. I ROLL ONE ON ONE WITH A BJJ BLACK BELT EVERY WEEK, HAVE TRAINED WITH A PRO BOXING COACH SINCE 3 MONTHS AFTER MY SURGERY AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, I'VE GOT A THAI COACH TO WORK WITH. I HAVE TO APPLAUD MY MAN PHIL AT THE SPORTS LAB IN PORTLAND, OR, WHO HAS REALLY PUSHED ME ON MY STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING. MY GOAL WAS TO COME BACK STRONGER AFTER MY SURGERY THAN I WAS AT MY PREVIOUS FIGHTS.
IN ADDITION, I RECEIVED AMAZING TREATMENT IN ARIZONA AT HUMAN PERFORMANCE SPECIALISTS. THEY DID SO MUCH BLOOD WORK ON ME TO SHOW ME BLACK AND WHITE WHERE MY HEALTH WAS. EXAMPLE, I SHOWED UP THERE THINKING I WAS IN GOOD SHAPE, YET MY BLOOD WORK SHOWED VERY WEAK RED BLOOD CELLS. OK, WHY WAS THAT? I WAS WALKING AROUND WITH VARIOUS INFECTIONS THAT WERE EATING ALL THE NUTRIENTS I WAS TAKING IN. THESE INFECTIONS WERE SUCKING THE IRON, MANGANESE, AND CALCIUM AWAY FROM MY BODY SO I COULD NOT PRODUCE THE NECESSARY THINGS TO GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL. IN ADDITION, I STARTED A NUTRIENT REGIME FOR MY JOINTS CALLED PROLOTHERAPY. WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED, MY ARM WAS LOCKED OUT ABOUT 25 DEGREES OFF OF BEING STRAIGHT - NOW I CAN STRAIGHTEN IT NO PROBLEM. A BIG PART OF MY JOINT REGENERATION IS ALSO DUE TO AN AMAZING NEW SUPPLEMENT FROM METABOLIC ADAPTATIONS CALLED INFLAMMIN - IT KEEPS MY JOINTS LUBED UP. GO TO WWW.THOMASINCLEDON.COM TO SEE WHAT HE DOES AT HUMAN PERFORMANCE SPECIALISTS AND WWW.FIGHTMA.COM TO SEE WHAT METABOLIC ADAPTATION HAS IN THE WORKS.
SO IT'S BEEN AN INTERESTING 2 YEARS. AND DON'T THINK I'VE BEEN SITTING AROUND WAITING FOR A FIGHT. AS SOON AS I COULD, I WAS IN THE GYM. 3 MONTHS TO THE DAY, I HAD MY BOXING COACH AND WAS HITTING MITTS. WELL, ACTUALLY I WAS TOUCHING MITTS. HE WOULDN'T LET ME GLOVE UP SO ALL I COULD DO WAS TOUCH THE MITTS. 6 MONTHS TO THE DAY, I WAS APPROVED TO GRAPPLE AND I IMMEDIATELY CALLED MY GOOD FRIEND ALEX KARALEXIS, WHO IS TEARING UP THE LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION IN THE WEC, AND WE GOT TOGETHER, SPARRED, AND GRAPPLED.
SO LOOK FOR ME AND PETE TO PUT ON A WAR ON THE 19TH. IF I KNOW PETE HE'S GONNA LOOK TO TAKE MY HEAD OFF TO CLEAR ANY DOUBT OF THE LAST FIGHT - AND I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY.
Ultimate fighter Nate Quarry fights his way back from a degenerative disc condition that required extensive spinal fusion surgery
By Matthew Sherman
The Lake Oswego Review, Apr 26, 2007
Nate Quarry started his career as a mixed martial artist with virtually no previous experience and ended up fighting for the Middleweight belt in 2005.
Nate Quarry, covered in sweat, looks in the mirror at West Linn’s Premier Martial Arts studio on Salamo Road and checks on the noticeable lump developing above his right eye. There is also a large bruise just below his ribs on the left side of his body. Ten feet away, Greg Thompson sits on the floor in the facility’s unique cage, looking for his toenail which had been ripped away a few minutes previously.
It is just a sparring session for the two mixed martial arts competitors. Quarry’s manager, West Linn resident Katie Clark, estimates that the pair are probably only competing at about 60 percent of their capable speed.
Still, blistering kicks delivered by padded legs echo in the small room, Thompson is tossed against the cage before the pair tumble to the ground, grappling for position.
When a timer rings in the corner, the pair release each other and crouch off to the side of the cage, analyzing and discussing various moves that occurred during the pervious round.
“I liked this a lot better when he was out of shape,” Thompson jokes about Quarry.
Quarry, a professional mixed martial artist, competing on the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has already been through a career’s worth of emotions and experiences. The 35-year-old saw his first UFC fight at the age of 24 and was instantly hooked.
“I was so amazed at what these guys were doing. I wanted to see what it was all about. I’m living testimony that someone can walk through the door and end up being successful,” Quarry said.
Quarry joined a gym and started to train. After taking his lumps initially, he became more and more skilled at all of the sport’s different avenues. As the name suggests, mixed martial arts combines the skills of multiple fighting techniques, including boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, judo and kickboxing.
“Everything that is in the Olympics is allowed but it’s all combined into one sport,” Quarry said.
With intense training, Quarry became ready for competition. The North Salem High School graduate had never participated in athletics previously but thrived in this capacity.
At a fight in Richmond, Va., Quarry dispatched an opponent while a casting director for Spike TV was in attendance. The director approached Quarry after the match and offered him an audition for an upcoming reality show.
Quarry won a spot on the show that saw 16 fighters living together in the same house, competing for a UFC contract.
“They locked us in and taped everything. It was kind of like boot camp. I really appreciated the experience once I was done but I wouldn’t want to go back,” Quarry said.
Early in the competition, Quarry broke his ankle during a practice but he recovered in time to fight on the undercard of the show’s climactic episode.
The show was wildly popular and it gave Quarry instant exposure. After its taping was concluded, he quickly rose through the ranks on the UFC, becoming a top Middleweight fighter.
In November of 2005, Quarry earned the right to compete for the Middleweight Championship but he suffered a difficult loss in the title match.
To make matters worse, Quarry was then diagnosed with a degenerative disc condition in his back. The injury was severe enough that it threatened Quarry’s career. He went through an extensive spinal fusion surgery but never let the possibility of giving up fighting enter his mind.
Within three months, Quarry was cleared to start training in a limited capacity again and, within six months, he was able to start getting himself into shape for competition once again.
Now, Quarry is back training 10 times in a five-day period. He has multiple sparring partners with varying strengths that help him prepare for upcoming competitions. He also works daily on conditioning.
“I think, in a lot of ways, I’m ahead of where I was at before I had surgery. It was a brutal recovery time but the pain is completely gone now,” Quarry said.
Quarry is gearing up for his comeback fight, his first competition since his surgery and he hopes that it will take place this August.
Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and Portland is one of the nation’s hotbeds for fighters. Quarry became interested in Premier Martial Arts even before it officially opened last January.
The facility offers a half-sized cage which simulates competition conditions.
“It’s like the difference between going to the batting cages and hitting at PGE Park,” Quarry said.
Premier Trainer and manager Scott Sheeran is an amateur fighter and currently teaches a number of classes at the Salamo location.
“Our emphasis is on safety. The whole curriculum is geared towards people who have never been in a fight before. I think a lot of people are intimidated by it, but our emphasis is on control,” Sheeran said.
Premier Martial Arts offers a number of different classes and is about to start a women’s self-defense course.
From the outside, the sport looks extremely dangerous with an enormous potential for injury but Quarry points out that far fewer long-term injuries arise in mixed martial arts than occur in boxing.
“There is the cumulative effect that happens in boxing with multiple blows to the head. There is the opportunity for all of those shots to add up,” Quarry said.
The competitions themselves last three rounds (five rounds for title bouts). Virtually anything goes in the matches. Groin shots and blows to the back of the head and neck are banned. Competitors also wear very little protective gear. The gloves worn are much smaller and less padded than boxing gloves.
A crucial aspect of the fights is what is called a submission hold in which a competitor gets his opponent into a position which would force him to tap out before an injury is incurred.
“If you take someone down, you can try and get them to tap out or choke out, where you cut off the flow of blood to the brain, causing them to pass out, but even with that, there is no lasting damage,” Quarry said.
Sportsmanship is key in the UFC as all of the competitors have a tremendous amount of respect for each other.
“It’s such a pure sport and I have made a number of lasting friendships,” Quarry said.
By Percy Crawford
BoxingTalk.com
UFC middleweight contender talks about his comeback, back surgery, UFC 68 and more!
PC: How has everything been going Nate?
NQ: Everything has gone great for me. My training is going through the roof and I have some great sparring partners; everything is going real well.
PC: You’re no longer with Team Quest. Who are you training with now?
NQ: Right now I’m kind of training here and there. I’ve got several gyms that I go to to really get what I need in the MMA world. The MMA fighter’s aren’t as good as professional boxers, Muay Thai or black belt Jiu Jitsu. Occasionally you will find someone who is a specialist in those areas, but on a whole, we haven’t been around long enough to find the coaches that are on Olympic level of boxing or wrestling and stuff like that. What I’ve been finding is, swallow my pride and go out to the boxing gyms, find the boxing coach that is doing an incredible job and that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been finding the boxing coaches and the Jiu Jitsu coaches and working with them and it’s making my game go through the roof.
PC: UFC 68 seemed like it would’ve been ideal for your comeback considering everyone on there had some kind of comeback story. What did you think of that card?
NQ: That was an exciting night. Randy Couture coming back and winning the title, the heavyweight title for the third time; that’s just amazing. It was like when George Foreman came back and won the title. It’s one of those stories when you look at it and say if he could accomplish that much and he could rise to that kind of a challenge, what am I doing sitting on my ass. It’s time for me to get up and put down the chips and go to the gym or go do my job better or be a better father or husband or whatever. I think that really raises the bar for all of us to set our sites a little higher and not be satisfied with mediocrity.
PC: How is your back doing after surgery and are you back training full speed?
NQ: I am. I am back to full speed training. 6 months after my surgery, my surgeon gave me the go ahead. He said, “man you’re as solid as you’re going to be.” He said it’s not going to break and I can get back into it. It’s been kind of a slow process after the first few weeks and now I’m really regaining the confidence in my back knowing it wasn’t going to break. It was about 3 weeks after I had been given the go ahead I had been training with Josh Haynes and he shot a double leg take down on me. He picked me up over his head and slammed me down to the mat and broke his shoulder right into the area where my surgery was to the point. For a split second, I was like, “Oh my god, am I going to be able to walk again?” I popped right back up and there were no problems and later on I did the exact same thing to him. I picked him up over my head and slammed him and when I went home that night I said, “I guess this worked.” I have belief in myself and the surgeons did a great job and the procedures they used were great. I’m ready to go man. I’m full speed.
PC: What weight class will you be fighting at and when will you like to get back in the octagon?
NQ: Yes I will still be at middleweight. People always come up to me and ask if I’m going to drop down to welterweight, but they don’t realize I weigh around 205 pounds; that’s a pretty hard cut, 35 pounds. I’m very compact though, so people don’t realize I don’t have a lot of extra mass on me. I have a tough time making 185, so dropping another 15 pounds would be crazy. I’m hoping towards the end of the summer to be back. I feel like a lot of things are better than they were before the surgery. I just want to take my time, get all of my strength and conditioning back, get my timing back and I just don’t want to be in a rush. When I get back in there, I want to have full belief in myself and the work that I’ve been doing and put on a good show.
PC: You haven’t fought since November ’05. If you had a fear in your 1st fight back in the octagon, what would it be?
NQ: No, I just don’t see any fear. When I fought Lodune Sincaid for the UFC, I was on The Ultimate Fighter show and I never got a chance to compete on the show. My first fight in the UFC was down at the Cox Pavilion in front of a huge crowd on The Ultimate Finale and that was the 1st fight I had in a year and a half. I had the long layoff, all the ring rust and was still able to go out there and deliver my A game. I think especially as a fighter, whether you have a fear or not you can’t admit it. You don’t want to tell yourself, well this I have to worry about. As a fighter you can’t do that. You have to believe you are best prepared as you can be. I can’t worry about what you’re going to do; you need to worry about me. Otherwise you will “what if” yourself to death all the way through your career.
PC: Rich Franklin said he never went back and watched the Anderson Silva fight. Have you ever went back and watched your fight with Rich and what did you learn from that loss?
NQ: I did watch it 1 time. I’ve only seen it once. I’m not real big on going back and reliving an experience like that over and over again; as far as sitting down watching it. I don’t think it’s really enough tape there for me to look at and realize what I did wrong. In my mind it was pretty obvious what went wrong. I went in there and I set a goal for myself a year previous to the fight that I was going to fight for the title. When I got into the cage against Franklin, you see a smile on my face which had never been on my face before a fight and it was there because I had achieved my goal. I was fighting for the championship. I realized this months later that I should’ve set my goals a little bit higher. I should’ve set it to win the championship. Whether or not I would’ve won the championship, Franklin would’ve still had something to say about that, but I would’ve gone in there with the mindset of, “Here I am and now it’s time to execute what I need to do to achieve my goal.” Instead of getting in the cage thinking I’ve made it. That was the biggest thing for me, you know? I don’t come from a sports background. I never had too much of a mentor to tell me how to get where I’m trying to go. It’s always been a learning process.
PC: Rich made his comeback at UFC 68. Do you think you saw the old Rich Franklin or did you see some hesitation?
NQ: It looked to me like Rich is coming back. I can see that he felt a little nervous after his loss to Silva. I think that was a big wake up call for him; just like me. Rich and I have very similar careers where we’ve gone through our entire career and never really been dominated. His only other loss, a guy was able to land a hook and win. My only other loss was a decision that I didn’t agree with. When I went into the Franklin fight and I started to get hit, my mind automatically was like, “Wait a minute this isn’t suppose to be happening. I’m supposed to be winning this fight. Why doesn’t he realize how dominant I am?” Then your mind starts playing tricks on you and you can see when Rich takes that hard first shot he starts to back away. He looked confused, like this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. Now that he’s coming back and making his way up to the top, he’ll remember what it was like to be in a brutal war and now he’ll expect to get hit and get damaged; that’s a part of the job. I think he’ll get stronger and better and build more confidence as each fight goes by.
PC: Rich was able to get right back in there after his loss and prove himself against Jason Macdonald. How difficult has it been for you to lose the way you lost to Rich and not be able to get right back in there and prove you’re better than that?
NQ: It’s kind of a mix feeling. I’ve been able to take this time and really learn from it. Instead of kind of masking over it and saying I had a bad night, I’ll show them what’s what in my next fight. I’ve been forced to sit back and analyze what happened and why did I lose, what was my mindset and where do my skills need to be to take me to the top. It also showed me who the people are that’s going to stand by me through the tough times. I found out who is going stand by me through a win or a loss. That’s really the way it goes. When you’re on top and you’re winning you have a lot of people to stand by you. When you lose, a lot of people go away and it’s really good to learn those things. You use these things to better yourself. Really fighting in a ring or a cage that’s really a metaphor for life than anything. You need to get in there and bring you’re A game and win or lose, you need to do the best that you possibly can. Everybody has setbacks. It’s very few champions around that have never had a loss, but it’s how you take those losses and grow from that.
PC: The ultimate goal in the middleweight division is a shot at Anderson Silva. Do you feel like he was exposed in any way against Travis Lutter?
NQ: I was surprised at how easily Lutter was able to get him down to the ground. I thought a few times Lutter was in position where he could’ve finished Anderson. I think he was very nervous and it seemed to me that he went into the fight with a self-defeated attitude; not making weight and all. His skill set…I thought he had everything he needed to beat Anderson Silva and he just wasn’t able to deliver that night. If they were to fight again, maybe it will go the other way.
PC: Is there anybody right now that you are kind of eyeballing to be your comeback fight?
NQ: (Laughing) Man I really don’t think about stuff like that and if I did I probably wouldn’t say because I don’t want anyone analyzing my game and trying to peep me out. No, to be honest with you I love to watch the fights and see what the game is. There are so many tough guys in the UFC right now and now it’s just a matter of getting back into the mix and making sure you’re healthy, strong and ready to go and just get in there and deliver.
PC: I look forward to seeing you back in the octagon. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
NQ: I want to thank my sponsors, Sprawl Shorts, Yokd clothing and Metabolic Adaptation, that’s a supplement company that’s really been helping me out. If you haven’t tried their stuff man it’s just amazing. I just want to thank everybody for sticking around and supporting me and I hope to be back later on this year like I said and delivering, putting on a good show. That’s my goal.
Nate Quarry never played a sport until his 20s; his next challenge is a comeback
By Mike Chiappetta
NBCSports.com
That's what Nate Quarry believes.
But his mind wasn't always so big, so able to grasp the larger complexities in life that he sees today. Because life is often dictated by those around us. And if they don't tell us when we're young that anything is possible, how would we know?
Nate Quarry is fighting back from major back surgery.Nate Quarry didn't know .. not until well after the age where the decision he eventually made should matter. When we dream big as children, friends and family are supposed to tell us we can do it. When we dream big as adults, they're supposed to tell us we're crazy.
What then of Quarry, who dreamed big for the first time when he was already an adult? Excuse him for the late start, but his upbringing probably wasn't like yours. So when he was 24 years old, he was just learning things others had known all along. He'd discovered things about himself, about others that made him question everything in his life. The door of possibility was wide open, and he decided at the age of 24, that it was time to walk through it.
Here's the thing about professional sports. You don't just wake up one day when you're already in your 20s and decide you're going to be a pro athlete, that you're going to hit Roger Clemens' fastball or chase Tiger Woods up the fairways at Augusta or trade punches with Floyd Mayweather. You're not supposed to be able to accomplish such specific, demanding goals at that late age.
There were a lot of things Quarry wasn't supposed to do at that age, either. Yet each time he did, he learned more that the world wasn’t always what people said it is.
He was 24, had never played an organized sport. Not football, not baseball, not basketball. He'd never been to a dojo, engaged in a muay thai clinch, executed a single leg takedown or threw a left-right combination.
"I had," Quarry says, "a very different upbringing."
He was, in many ways, a blank slate.
Perhaps that's why the impossible seemed so attainable to him. He was questioning everything he'd been told, so if someone told him it was too late to chase athletic stardom, he'd tell them he needed to find things out for himself.
Breaking away
Self-discovery is one of those terms you hear on The Oprah Winfrey Show, a phrase that you'd never hear uttered on a sports broadcast. But for Quarry, it was a real part of the journey to what he is now: a UFC fighter.
For his entire youth into his early adulthood, Quarry was a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, growing up in the religious denomination where life focused on school, bible study and home chores. There was no time for socializing or doing most things that most American teenagers do. Sports were forbidden.
"It's a very strict religion. In my mind, it's a cult," says Quarry, now 34 and a decade removed. "A cult needs to control its members 24 hours a day. They don't want them seeing that anything outside of their religion is better than what they're being offered inside that organization."
For years, this was his reality, his life.
A curious mind, however, is a difficult thing to contain. Quarry began slowly venturing away from his comfort zone and toward the rest of society, joining a gym to lift weights, meeting people that caused him to question what he'd been taught.
From time to time, he'd visit a local comic book store and chat with the owner. After a while, he became such a regular that the owner, a guy by the name of Jamie Hayes, asked Quarry if he wanted to meet up over beers later. This is one of many ways friendships are made, but for someone who'd lived such a sheltered existence, it seemed out of the ordinary. Hayes was not part of his religion, so why would he want to spend time with Nate? What would they talk about? Quarry declined the invitation, as he would time and again, until finally after a few months, he relented in his doubts and met the acquaintance for beers.
Seems like a good guy, he thought.
Not long after, Quarry met his family.
Genuinely nice people, he realized.
For Quarry, visiting their home was like discovering a new civilization. Within a couple of years, Quarry was the best man at Hayes' wedding.
"The Rock" is one of the most unlikeliest pro athletes, never playing a sport until he was in his 20s."I was told from day one of being with the Witnesses that there are no good people outside of the church, that there is nothing else out there and that we're the happiest in the world," he says. "Then, I started to meet these people that weren't Witnesses, yet they were very nice people, they were helpful and kind. And I started thinking, this is different than what I've been taught. And it really opened my eyes and made me think more about what else is out there."
Which brings us to his other discovery. Around the same time, he was watching television when he saw a mixed martial arts broadcast and fell in love. A few days later, he stepped into an MMA gym for the first time. At 24, he engaged in organized sports for the first time.
"I walked into the door thinking, 'I'm a big guy, I must know how to defend myself,'" he says now, laughing. "I trained with guys that were 40 pounds lighter than me, and I was getting choked out and armbarred. It just amazed me how skillful they were with the things they could do so smoothly. I was hooked from that moment on. I realized this is a whole other aspect of life I've never seen before, and I wanted to be a part of it."
By this time, he was openly questioning everything he'd been taught. He left the church, was excommunicated and lost many lifelong friendships. He's spoken to one of his sisters just once in the last eight years, and only speaks with his mother three or four times a year ("I accept her life, and I hope she accepts mine," he says.).
But as a person, he was growing. And as an athlete, he was soaking up everything he was taught. After training for just a few years, including with current UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture, he decided to quit his job at a sign company to train full-time.
The ultimate breakthrough
In 2001, he made his fighting debut against Drew McFedries on an Extreme Challenge card highlighted by Matt Hughes, and won via second-round TKO. All three fighters would later go on to fight in the UFC.
But his big break wouldn't come until late 2004, when he was cast on the first edition of UFC's Ultimate Fighter reality show. But then, before he had a chance to fight, he suffered an ankle injury. However, he'd commanded such respect for his performance and professionalism that UFC boss Dana White asked him to stay on as an assistant trainer.
He made his UFC debut in the finale of the reality show, scoring a first-round TKO over Lodune Sincaid, then followed it up with two more first-round stoppages over Shonie Carter and Pete Sell. The fast-rising Quarry was green-lit for a title match against middleweight champ Rich Franklin for November 2005.
That bout didn't go nearly as well, as he suffered a brutal first-round KO. The clip has been played ad nauseum by the UFC, Franklin landing a powerful left hook and Quarry falling back to the mat like a tree dropping to the earth.
While the knockout was painful, what was even worse was the crash, re-injuring an already existing back condition, a degenerative disc that led to two vertebrae grinding against each other, causing constant pain. It was so bad that he couldn't lean over into the sink in the morning to wash his face, so bad he couldn't lift up or carry his daughter around.
The resulting operation was a major decision, one he waited several months to make until all the test results and diagnoses concluded that this was the best course of action, even if there was the possibility that he might never fight again.
"I believe with hard work, anything's possible," Quarry says. "What I've noticed so often is that people accept the fates they've been given. They're told by a doctor that they'll never walk again, be healthy again, so they believe that and accept it. In their mind, they say, 'this is my lot in life. This is the way it's going to be.' But I'm not that way. I've spent my entire life becoming that which I was never meant to be. I thought, I'm going to continue living my life the best way I know how and I'll get where I want to be."
The injury that could've ended his career has slowed him down, but hasn't stopped him. Three weeks after the surgery, he was hiking in the Nevada mountains. Six months after, he was training full speed. He feels his time away from the octagon gave him a chance to think about and examine his training and mistakes. He's changed his training regimen, focusing on specific disciplines that he feels his game was previously lacking. His strength is returning and says his boxing is much improved. The only thing holding him back from a return is ring rust and timing, but he's hoping to be back by the middle or end of the summer.
He has a few other projects in the works, too. He's been cast in a movie called "Never Submit," and he'll be on an ESPN show called "The Saltwater Experience," soon, joining with fellow fighters Alex Karalexis and Paul Buentello in taking children with multiple sclerosis on a fishing trip, giving them a chance to do something they might not otherwise get to do.
Until then, the question he hears the most is when he'll be back.
"I don't want to rush anything," he says. "I want to take my time, get in there, have a few real good battles to really remind me what fighting is all about -- that you're supposed to get hit, you're supposed to get taken down, you're supposed to be in a bad position and fight your way out and come back and win. That's what I'm looking for, to get some of those wars under my belt and remember what fighting was all about."
That's what he's always done, even if it didn't always take place in a cage.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Feb. 26, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Imperia Entertainment, Inc. (Pink Sheets: IPEI) President James Hergott announced today that MMA fighter Nathan Quarry (Pictures) has been cast in a fighter role in the Mixed Martial Arts feature film, "Never Submit". Hergott comments; "Over the past few months we have been auditioning fighters all over the country for "Never Submit". We have now auditioned over 300 fighters and actors and only a very small percentage have enough natural acting ability to be able to be in the movie. Nathan came in and auditioned and was prepared and did a fantastic read. He did a great job," said Hergott.
ABOUT NATHAN QUARRY
Nathan "Rock" Quarrry is best known for his appearance in "The Ultimate Fighter," a reality show from the Ultimate Fighting Championship ("UFC"). Quarry won his first three fights with the UFC and was granted a shot at the middleweight title in November 2005.
ABOUT "NEVER SUBMIT"
"Never Submit" is a movie set in the world of MMA. The performances will be a mix of nationally recognized actors and fighters. Auditions are being held across the country looking for actors and fighters for the movie.
"Never Submit" is an inspirational tale similar to "Rocky," but the lead character is an intelligent young man (as are most fighters competing in this sport) rather than a beaten-down punch-drunk fighter. An amazing cast of characters will round out this film; each from different walks of life; each with his own set of circumstances and motivating factors driving him to be the best. "Never Submit" is a metaphor describing the way these athletes live their lives.
Imperia Entertainment recently announced a partnership with TapouT Magazine (www.tapoutmagazine.com) as part of a cross-country tour to promote the publication as well as the movie. Stops at select dojos to hold auditions for "Never Submit" are being finalized. TapouT Magazine readers can expect to see the mixed martial arts movie prominently featured in the bi-monthly publication throughout the casting, filming and theatrical release stages, as well as enjoy behind the scenes details from "Never Submit" director James Hergott, one of TapouT Magazine's newest contributors.
"Never Submit" is featured on myMMAspace.com. myMMAspace.com is the fastest growing mixed martial arts (MMA) destination site on the Internet. The site features traditional social networking features and tools like Myspace, but also provides specialized tools for MMA fighters, brands, promoters, and fans to communicate and interact in an MMA focused environment. www.myMMAspace.com The company's weekly internet radio show, Cage Side Live!, will feature interactive and entertaining interviews with MMA's top fighters, promoters, and personalities. Inquiries pertaining to potential sponsorship and product placement opportunities available for a limited time to companies/vendors and MMA media requests should be made via e-mail to Stephanie Johnson at neversubmitmovie@gmail.com
ABOUT IMPERIA ENTERTAINMENT
Imperia Entertainment, Inc. (www.imperiaentertainment.com) is a company that has emerged as a player in the area of independent film production and distribution, once monopolized by the major film studios. In conjunction with its distribution subsidiary, Imperia International Distribution, the company engages in investing in and producing and distributing full-length feature films. Along with its equity interest in "All That I Need" (www.allthatineed.net), released in theaters last year, and now being marketed for DVD distribution, Imperia's film properties include its feature film, "Say It In Russian" (www.sayitinrussianmovie.com), starring Faye Dunaway and Agata Gotova, "Brothers," by Tarquin Gotch ("Home Alone"), "An Ordinary Hero," produced by Imperia's subsidiary, Muller Media, Inc. (Pink Sheets: MUME), and the award-winning "Autograph" television series (www.autograph.tv), which airs on the OlympuSAT system. This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Imperia Entertainment, Inc. and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-statements include fluctuation of operating results, the ability to compete successfully and the ability to complete before-mentioned transactions. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
Spc. Laura M. Bigenho, 28th Public Affairs Detachment
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, received a special visit on June 2. Nathan Quarry, a professional fighter, and his team took time out of their busy schedules to travel here and train Soldiers on new combative skills.
Quarry, 34, started fighting about 10 years ago. Before he got started, Quarry worked a blue-collared job at a sign company, adhering to his strict religious upbringing. He didn’t understand, nor appreciate, the concept of professional fighting. Then one day, Quarry’s friend called him over to a television, where he saw two men fighting inside a cage. Rather than find it insulting, Quarry saw a competition between two men that was “pure and full of spirit.” A short time later, he joined a local gym and began training to be a professional fighter.
“I didn’t realize there was skill involved,” Quarry said. “I thought it was just two guys beating the (heck) out of each other.” Quarry took his new passion for fighting to new heights when he joined Team Quest, a gym famous for training some of the world’s best fighters. He eventually landed time on the hit reality TV show, “The Ultimate Fighter,” and ultimately moved on to the “Ultimate Fighting Championship.”
When Capt. Travis Cox, fire support officer, telephoned his brother, who is good friends with Quarry’s coach, they arranged to visit the Soldiers. For a man who can easily charge thousands of dollars per training session, some might wonder why Quarry would take time to visit and train Soldiers here completely free of charge. For Quarry, the answer was simple.
“The military does so much for us,” he said. “Whether or not you believe in everything the government sends our military to go do, I really believe wholeheartedly that you have to support the people that are risking their lives to provide us a country where you can (freely) dispute decisions that are made.”
“They’re very big supporters of the military, and they were very excited about doing this,” Cox said. “When (my brother) called them up, they said they’d come right up.”
Quarry’s coach and president of Team Quest, Robert Follis, accompanied Quarry, along with Mike Dolce, strength and conditioning coach.
The trio spent several hours with Soldiers, introducing them to fighting techniques such as boxing, Thai kickboxing and mixed martial arts, among others. Each session started off with a detailed explanation and demonstration of the technique by one of the professionals, followed by Soldiers taking to mats on the floor and practicing moves on each other. Quarry, Follis and Dolce mingled with Soldiers, often pausing to critique, praise and join in on their practice sessions.
“I want my friends, students and (Soldiers) who are defending this country to come back and be safe, so I want them to pick up these highly effective techniques,” Quarry said. “I’m not going to teach anybody anything that I don’t know is a high percentage move.”
Quarry said he applied his sport of mixed martial arts into live combat situations for the Soldiers.
“We know that Soldiers prefer to be at a distance taking care of business in a safer manner, but on occasion, you get into a hand-to-hand situation.”
In addition to combative techniques, Soldiers were taught the importance of strength and conditioning. Dolce had them breaking a sweat and breathing heavily within minutes of their workout. “The physical training (Dolce) showed us was fantastic,” Cox said. “We got some new core exercises to incorporate into our unit (physical training).”
Quarry said that while physical fitness is key to being a competent fighter, he hopes Soldiers realize that the thought process involved in fighting is also key.
“I want them thinking about all the opportunities and variables that come up in a fight,” Quarry said. “In a firefight, are you going to be the type of person that ducks and (hides), waiting for your buddy to take care of business? Or are you going to get out there and fight until you no longer can?”
Cox finished the day feeling confident about the new techniques he and his Soldiers learned. With a future deployment almost inevitable, Cox anticipates applying Quarry’s techniques to real life situations. “One of the focuses we initially had was controlling detainees,” Cox said. Through Quarry, they learned how to get themselves off the ground and defend themselves from a standing position versus just wrestling. “I think the Soldiers got a better perspective on some different options out there for combatives,” said Cox.
For the Soldiers involved that day, training was a fun and valuable experience. For Quarry and his team, it was also fun, but more so, an honor.
“If I can show a little bit of appreciation by coming out and showing (Soldiers) some new (combative) techniques, that pales in comparison to what they’re doing for us.”
Follis couldn’t agree more. After working with the Soldiers and seeing how seriously they took the training, it hit him that this training could be what possibly saves some of their lives one day.
“Knowing that this (training) could really make a difference in the Soldiers lives was a big honor,” Follis said. “We were very happy to come and help the military by donating (time and training) that we felt would make a difference.”
Lots of cool stuff happening for "Rock."
First off:
Back = healed.
Nose = healed.
Fists = like Thor's Hammer
Nate has quite a few surprises to share, but we can't let the cat out of the bag JUST YET.
I CAN tell you this - he's workin' out harder than he every has with the best coaches and the toughest training partners (yeah, yeah, you know who you are!). The rainy winter in Oregon is good for fighters - makes 'em focused and mean. Whoever steps into that octagon - look out
All you MMA fans out there, I'm sure you've all watched Inside the UFC
on Spike. Remember Chuck's episode where it shows his cool digs and incredible
rides. Or maybe you've seen Cribs where billionaire rap stars show off
their gold plated toilets.
This Saturday morning on Spike at 8am (satellite or east coast feed that
means 5am), I am featured on Kickin’. The show features me; a broke
ass and broken (my back at the time) MMA fighter.
It has some big time sponsors, GMC, Sea Ray Boats and Nautilus. It’s
not a half hour of me training – but it’s still cool. There
were some sponsors that really stepped up to help me out on this show.
Mainly Yok'd Clothing, Metabolic Adaptation and of course my boys at
Sprawl shorts; all companies are the best at what they do. I don't have
two pools like Chuck... But I'm proud of my life and my accomplishments.
It shows a little insight in to my day to day life with me and my little
girl.
As announced on Ultimate Fight Night 2, which aired on Oct 3rd, Nathan Quarry will be facing Rich Franklin for the UFC Middleweight title. The fight has been rumored for quite some time, but the UFC has kept the match quiet and there is still very little word coming from them. Nathan is extremely grateful for opportunity to have a UFC title shot and has been very busy training for the up coming match. UFC 56 Full Force will take place at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Saturday November 19th. The card also features Matt Hughes who, like Franklin, is one of the coaches on Season 2 of the Ultimate Fighter.
With a huge 1.5 rating, Ultimate Fight Night made the highest ratings for all cable programming on Saturday night. Nathan defeated Pete Sell in front of a sold out crowd and over 2 million tv viewers. The ref ended the fight at 41 secs into the first round via TKO, giving Nathan his 14th win in MMA competition. Check out a pre fight interview with Nathan on Sherdog.com click for more>
Unleashed, on Spike tv, will feature unaired fights from the TUF finale starting on July 25th. Nathan Quarry's match with Lodune Sincaid will air on Aug 1st at 11:30pm EST. Unleashed featuring Nathan Quarry will re-air on Aug 6th before the Ultimate Fight Night.
Nathan Quarry - An 'Ultimate Fighter' Makes
His UFC Debut - 5/26/2005
by Thomas Gerbasi
In a sport full of interesting people, UFC middleweight
prospect Nathan Quarry ranks up there with the best of them. A former real
estate investor and entrepreneur who had been slugging it out in smaller
shows across the nation, Quarry got his big break when he was chosen to
participate in SpikeTV’s “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series.
Unfortunately for the Oregon native, that was a literal break when an
ankle injury eliminated him from the competition. Now fully healed (and
with a win under his belt on the undercard of the series finale) Quarry
returns to the small screen when he battles veteran Shonie Carter at
UFC 53 on June 4. It’s his proper UFC debut, and as you’ll
read in the following interview, Quarry is excited and ready to show
what he can do in the Octagon. click
for more>
UFC returns to Spike TV featuring stars from the hit reality tv show The Ultimate Fighter. The event takes place Aug 6th and will be aired live on Spike. Nathan will be on hand and will be facing Pete "Drago" Sell in a Middleweight bout. Visit UFC.TV for more info on the event and ticket prices. Click here to view UFC's press release.
Two minutes and 37 secs in to the opening of his bout against Shonie Carter, Nathan Quarry won his PPV Debut via TKO. The response by the crowd for Quarry after his win was tremendous. Quarry thanked the Atlantic City crowd after his win.
On June 4th, UFC 53: Heavy Hitters will feature Nathan Quarry in a Middleweight bout against Shonie Carter (76-12-8). Visit UFC.TV for more info on the PPV event Live from Atlantic City.
June 17th-19th
Special Guest Instructors:
Chris “Crippler” Leben
Nate “The Rock” Quarry
Why not take advantage of this awesome, once in a lifetime opportunity
to train with all of your Team Quest heroes? This is Team Quest’s
first ever Camp with TUF Warriors Nate Quarry & Chris Leben to accompany
Randy Couture, Matt Lindland and Head Coach Robert Follis in 10 hours
of training. The Team Quest Mini Camp is designed for anyone looking
to challenge themselves. You don’t have to be a fighter to
benefit from this camp. We welcome every skill level from Beginners
to top level Athletes. click
here for more info >
Nathan defeats Lodune Sincaid in 3:17 of the first round via TKO. According to Sherdog.com, Quarry landed a body shot to Sincaid, which in turn, began Nathan's barrage of strikes and kicks forcing ref "Big" John Mcarthy to end the contest.
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