While we have seen UFC champions like Sean O’Malley and Michael Bisping emerge from The Ultimate Fighter and Dana White’s Contender Series, appearing on or even winning those shows doesn’t guarantee success with the promotion.
The latest example of that is Landon Quinones, whom the UFC released this week following a winless run with the promotion and an extended absence.
Quinones was on the TUF team coached by Conor McGregor in March 2023 when the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion was first booked to face Michael Chandler.
Quinones did an interview with Gallimbo Sports and he was asked about meeting McGregor. “Conor walked in the room and I’m like, whoa that’s really Conor McGregor,” Quinones said. “I was really star struck. It was crazy.”
Quinones lost his only TUF match to Jason Knight via first-round triangle choke but still received a contract with the UFC. He then lost unanimous decisions to Nasrat Haqparast and MarQuel Mederos in September 2023 and February 2024, respectively.
Following the loss to Mederos, Quinones decided to take some time away from the sport. He announced his hiatus on Instagram. It is unclear whether the UFC grew tired of waiting on the former Titan FC champion to take a fight or if they simply chose to move on.
Quinones earned a spot on the TUF roster after putting together five consecutive wins with Titan FC, with four of the victories coming by KO/TKO. Unfortunately, he was never able to find the win column in the UFC.
In any case, Quinones is only 29 years old. He has time to make a run and return to the Octagon if he chooses. For now, he leaves the UFC with an 0-2 record officially, as the TUF fight is technically an exhibition.
Quinones’ pro MMA record is 7-3-1 and he could be a fit with a regional promotion, back in Titan or perhaps even with the Professional Fighters League. Quinones has trained at Kill Cliff FC and with MMA Science Academy, so there should be no shortage of training partners to help him prepare for a resurgence.
We’ll see where he lands.
Up Next: UFC Vegas 104
The upcoming UFC event will see Marvin Vettori battle Roman Dolidze in a rematch almost two years to the day of their first meeting on March 13, 2023.
It happens on Saturday, March 15 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Here is a look at the card.
- Marvin Vettori vs. Roman Dolidze – Middleweight
- Elizeu Zaleski vs. Chidi Njokuani – Welterweight
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Kurt Holobaugh – Lightweight
- Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Cody Gibson – Bantamweight
- Diyar Nurgozhay vs. Brendson Ribeiro – Light Heavyweight
- Kevin Vallejos vs. Seung Woo Choi – Featherweight
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Ryan Spann – Heavyweight
- Su Young You vs. AJ Cunningham – Bantamweight
- Josias Musasa vs. Carlos Vera – Bantamweight
- Sam Hughes vs. Stephanie Luciano – Strawweight
- André Lima vs. Daniel Barez – Flyweight
- Josiane Nunes vs. P. Cachoeira – Bantamweight
- Yuneisy Duben vs. Carli Judice – Flyweight
The action begins at 4pm ET with the prelims. The main card starts at 7pm ET. I’ll have results and bonus winners on Saturday night.