Granted, it was a sanctioned bout that took place in a ring, but still, the thought of the exceptionally cordial Cifers scrapping in a parking lot is a humorous one. It’s a reminder that every mixed martial artist sees a smorgasbord of venues before they make it to bigger promotions, and it’s because of that climb up the ranks that fighters are likely the most well-equipped athletes to conducting their business in a socially distant environment. And perhaps no athlete on the roster is more excited for that than Cifers.

“The pressure from being on the big show is a lot more than what I thought it was,” Cifers said. “That’s probably the biggest thing. It’s like a dream to actually fight in the UFC, but you want to perform really well there, but you’re also in front of or getting viewed by a lot of people, so it’s just a lot of pressure on both sides. I want to perform well when I’m there.”

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Cifers, a North Carolina native, stepped into the added pressure of fighting in her home state when she took on Angela Hill in Raleigh. She lost the January bout via second-round TKO, bringing her UFC record to an even 2-2, but heading into her May 30 bout with Mackenzie Dern, Cifers is warm to the idea of taking a business trip.

“It was nice to get to fight in the home state, but I think I like fighting away from a little more,” she said. “A lot less pressure.”

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While Dern is one of the most decorated jiu-jitsu practitioners on the roster, Cifers pointed out she’s the one who holds the upper hand when it comes to mixed martial arts experience. And that experience has helped “Shockwave” get into the flow of all that comes with competing in MMA’s largest promotion, a reality she hadn’t anticipated when she first started training jiu-jitsu at 19 years old for self-defense reasons.

But soon enough, the itch to fight grew. It wasn’t from out of nowhere, though. Cifers watched the early UFC cards with her parents when she was younger, gravitating toward Royce Gracie because of his ability to defeat much larger opponents.

“I just thought it’d be fun to fight,” Cifers said. “At the time, I never thought I’d be in the UFC like I am now.”

That insurmountable thought is her life now, and on the bright side, it has allowed her the opportunity to meet her MMA heroes, including Junior Dos Santos, whose moniker “Cigano” is the inspiration for her dog’s name.

Ultimately, though, Cifers is most excited to get another chance to show how she has improved since she made her first foray into the Octagon in November 2018. The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t impacted her training regimen too much, nor has it really changed her day-to-day life.

With that said, the UFC Apex is definitely an upgrade from a North Carolina parking lot.

“I feel pretty good,” Cifers said. “I feel like I’m putting in a lot of work.”

“There was definitely no eating or drinking for me because it was a week away,” said Royval, who instead made a couple phone calls of his own, relaxed that night and prepared to go back to work. “I called my parents and two of my friends and chilled on it for a little bit. I sat back and thought about it and let it soak in.”

In the process, he realized just what fighting someone like Elliott truly means.

“This is a good opportunity to catch fifty thousand, too,” he laughed. “Performance of the Night, Fight of the Night, whatever it is, this is a great opportunity for both of us. Tim Elliott is a guy that’s gonna come forward and throw a bunch of punches. He’s gonna try to be exciting, and that’s a great matchup for me because I’m gonna do the same.”

With those comments alone, it’s easy to see why fans are excited to see Royval make his UFC debut. To some, it’s a debut long in the making, going back to the 27-year-old’s early days in the LFA, where he fought his last eight bouts, going 6-2. Along the way, he competed on cards containing several fighters who would go on to the big show, either directly or through Dana White’s Contender Series.

On one of those cards in May 2018, he beat Jerome Rivera on a night where current UFC fighters Ian Heinisch, Maycee Barber, Austin Hubbard and Youssef Zalal all scored wins. But despite being surrounded by all that talent, Royval didn’t believe he was ready for the Octagon just yet.

“Not off that card,” he said. “Off that card I was earning my way up. I knew I didn’t belong there at that time. I needed to make my record look a little prettier before I did anything.”

Winning three of his next four, with the only loss coming to another current UFC fighter in Casey Kenney, was all the pretty Royval’s record needed, but capturing the LFA flyweight belt did add the required bling, and after that title-winning effort against Nate Williams last November, he knew he was ready.

“With the LFA belt, there’s almost a call-up for a lot of those guys, so I got really hopeful then,” Royval said. “And I knew I belonged. I know my skillset is there and I put in a lot of work to be there too. I believe in myself and I believe that I belong there, and you hope that you get that call, but even when my manager told me, it was utter shock, still.”

That was then. The shock has worn off now and the Colorado native has a fight to get ready for. A big one.

“I’m going to the UFC and fighting a big name,” he said. “He (Elliott) is ranked 11th, so it’s a great opportunity for me right off the bat.”

“I’m an exciting fighter,” he says matter-of-factly. “As much as I want to sit back and be technical and pick people apart, which is something that I’m capable of, when that bell rings, I am not capable of doing it. (Laughs) I go forward and I throw punches and I probably risk too much, but that leads to a lot of finishes and a lot of exciting fights and a little bit of a fan base.”

Expect that fan base to grow if he delivers on his promise. Then again, if you’ve seen Royval fight before, you know it’s not an “if” with him, but a “when.” It almost makes it crazy to believe that the moments before a fight aren’t his greatest. 

I ask him if he’s prepared to put the emotions of his first UFC fight night in check.

“My emotions are put in check on a normal fight,” Royval laughs. “My last fight, I was pretty much running through walls, and my coach (Factory X’s Marc Montoya) is really good at evening me out. You see some fighters and they need to get smacked in the face before they go out there. I’m one of those fighters that need to calm the f**k down. (Laughs) They need to calm me down. I’m an emotional wreck before I fight, so I don’t know how I’m gonna deal with it, but I’m sure my coach will be helpful. He’s been with me for a long time and he knows me as a fighter and as a person, and I’m sure it will be somewhat the same.”

Then it’s go-time for the “Raw Dawg.“ Business as usual.

“It’s like the kid in the class where the teacher asks any question and they put their hands up, ‘Me, me,’” Burns laughs. “That was me. Who wants to fight (Tryon) Woodley? Me. I want to fight, especially the number one contender and former champ.” 

On Saturday, Burns gets his wish when he faces Tyron Woodley in the main event of the UFC’s return to Las Vegas. Sounds simple enough, but it was a long road to get the fight done, going back to the week after Burns’ first-round TKO of Demian Maia.

By that time, the COVID-19 pandemic was closing everything down. In fact, the Burns-Maia fight was fought in an empty arena in Brasilia. It was expected the next week’s UFC London card featuring Woodley against Leon Edwards was either going to proceed in the same way or moved entirely to the United States. Soon, the plan was to go to the States, but Edwards wouldn’t be able to make it. 

Burns volunteered. No go. 

Then there were talks of Woodley fighting Burns on April 18. No go.

May 9? Ditto.

Finally, the fight was made for this weekend, and no one was happier than “Durinho,” who admits he was doubtful for a while. 

“When (UFC President) Dana White said it, that’s when I started to believe it more,” said Burns. “I was getting ready anyway. I love to train and I’m hungry to get better and I love to stay in shape. It’s just the normal routine of training hard, and as soon as they confirmed the date, I said, okay, we’re doing it. I got pretty excited.”

It’s a great matchup, the former champ on the comeback trail against the hungry contender who reinvented himself at 170 pounds. But even before the bout begins at the UFC Apex, you have to appreciate Burns’ dogged determination to get Woodley in the Octagon.

“All due respect to the guy, but I tried to be funny and make the fight happen and make people laugh about it,” Burns said. “But the real reason was because I want to fight. Nothing’s bigger than that. If they’re doing a fight, you better put my name in there.”

And give credit to Woodley for taking the fight against the explosive Brazilian, who has shown the ability to end fights with his striking or his world-class jiu-jitsu game. That’s a tough combination to prepare for, and if you’re playing MMA math, it took Burns less than three minutes to do what Woodley couldn’t in five rounds with Maia. So Burns understands perhaps why the fight didn’t happen sooner.

“I think it was a little bit in his head that this guy’s coming super hungry and gaining momentum,” said Burns. “I think he’s like, ‘Ah, I don’t want to fight this guy right now. I don’t get enough to win.’ And his last fight was March 2019. My last fight was March 2020, so I’ve been fighting, I’ve been ready and I’ve been finishing these guys.”

Burns has also stayed busy and sharp. Since Woodley lost his title to Kamaru Usman in 2019, Burns has fought and won four times. Three of those wins have come in his return to welterweight, a move that wasn’t just necessary, but one requested by those closest to him, his wife Bruna and his nutritionist Dr. Marcelo Ferro.

And though Burns made the final decision after two rough weight cuts to 155 pounds before fights with Dan Hooker and Mike Davis, he’s glad he had those experiences.

“I needed the lessons, I needed the loss to Dan Hooker, having the worst weight cut before that fight, then having a bad weight cut again with Mike Davis.  I was beating myself up so much with the weight cut, and as soon as I stopped, I started performing better and feeling better. My last fight speaks for itself. It was a lot of experience, a lot of learning.”

Now there’s just a lot of winning for the 33-year-old, who may enter Saturday’s bout as the underdog to the oddsmakers, but not to the man in the mirror. And if Woodley or anyone else is underestimating him, Burns welcomes the opportunity to silence the doubters.

“I think as of right now, they should know who I am,” he said. “But to be honest, I don’t even care if they realize or not. As soon as they close the cage, if they didn’t know, now you know.”

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On that night in Washington, D.C., Quarantillo made everything right in a career that has seen more twists and turns than an amusement park ride. But it wasn’t all amusing for the Buffalo native. Far from it. But when he finally got to within punching distance of a goal he had been chasing since he first put on the gloves in 2010, he punched right through it, finishing Kilburn to get himself in the UFC win column for the first time.

And while these moments don’t always live up to what you’ve made them out to be in your head through all the days in the gym and in fights against people no one has ever heard of, Quarantillo, who turned 31 the day after his win, says it was everything he expected.

“It was exactly what I thought it would be,” he said. “I moved to Florida in 2010 and I’m really a big believer in visualizing and writing down your goals. And the goal has always been to be a world champion, but one of those big goals, even before I could start going for that world championship, was to get into the UFC, and not only get to the UFC but to keep winning fights to get to that championship. And I’ll definitely never forget the next day how gratifying it felt and how relieved I was, because it could have been a huge bust. There was a little bit of uncertainty there, especially after The Ultimate Fighter. So the next day I hung out with my entire family in DC and they had a big party. We had a bunch of food, we watched the Bills game and we all had a great time and I just got to soak it all in with them. It was all worth it.”

If you’re being objective, it was just another win by a prospect making his debut in the big show. If you’ve got a heart, you had to feel good for “Billy Q,” who had been close to the UFC before, only to fall short. There was the time on The Ultimate Fighter 22, where he went 1-1 but wasn’t called back for the season finale card. Then he comes off the show and beats a fellow TUF vet in Marc Stevens, only to get stopped by Michel Quinones in his next fight on April Fool’s Day in 2016.

Quarantillo must have felt like it was a cruel joke being played on him, but he had to give it another shot. He was too close to turn back. He won his next four fights, won his bout on Dana White’s Contender Series, and then had his UFC contract. But the attitude of fighting every fight like it’s his last didn’t change, and that was evident against Kilburn, as he looked better than he ever has, and under the bright lights, no less.

“It honestly didn’t even feel like my first UFC fight,” he said. “I felt like I’d been there before and I know how one loss can set you back four years. If you lose and they don’t like what they see and they give you the cut, that could be it. So the pressure’s always on for me and I can’t let one of these fights slip away. Every fight, I’m going in there to dominate and do whatever I have to do to get the win and I don’t want to give up anything. I don’t want to give up a knockdown, I don’t want to give up a big takedown and I don’t want to lose any rounds because it’s not like a basketball season or a baseball season where you can lose a few games. Every one of these fights is so important that I don’t want to go back to what I was doing before. I’m gonna keep giving it everything I’ve got to keep winning and keep dominating fights.”

He pauses, then continues.

“If we have a bad day, that could be it,” Quarantillo said. “So I can’t afford to do that. I put too much work in, too much time in. I’ve dedicated my life to this and I’m not just gonna let it slip away.”

On Saturday, Quarantillo returns for UFC fight number two against Spike Carlyle. It’s at a catchweight of 150 pounds, but the Tampa resident didn’t blink when the request was made. He wants to fight. Now.

“I said I don’t want to let Spike off the hook now, let’s do 150,” Quarantillo said. “It’s definitely an interesting time, but we got the deal done. We both had to deal with this pandemic, but he’s another guy in the way that I need to beat to get to that next level. I’ve got big goals and big plans and I don’t want to keep waiting around. I was getting bored over here.”

He laughs, confident that while training camp has a different look in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, his work ethic is unchanged.

“The longer this fight goes, my pressure and my conditioning is hard to match,” Quarantillo said. “I see it with guys that I train with and spar with. I can go round after round after round and I’m usually wearing out the fresh guys. So it’s not a good matchup if you’re not in good shape, and if you’re taking it on short notice, I’m a very bad matchup.”

Clearly, he has not taken his foot off the gas after his first UFC win.

“I was able to reach a lot of my goals in this past year and it’s cool to see a lot of the hard work pay off all in the same time frame,” he said. “I got my black belt, I got the UFC win, the UFC debut and I was able to put money down and buy a house about three months later. Those were all goals that took me about ten years to do, and it all came to fruition all around the same three, four-month period, which is pretty crazy to think about. But the job’s not done yet.”

That’s what Quarantillo will be reminding himself on Saturday night in Las Vegas, when it’s Spike Carlyle standing in the way of the next goal on his list.

“I was never a high-level athlete,” he admits. “I played hockey but I got cut my senior year because we were partying too much, and I wasn’t a star athlete, ever. Everything I’ve earned, it’s been through hard work and determination. Every fight I go into, I look at my opponent and think, how bad do they want it, have they put in the work, have they gone through the struggle? And most of the time the answer is no. So going into this fight and going into the next fight, they know what I’ve been through and that’s why I can’t let up now.”