Nate Quarry made it all the way back to the locker room before he finally broke down.



This was later. This was after he’d woken up on the mat to find that he’d lost his one and only UFC title shot. It was after he’d struggled to his feet against the cage as doctors and cutmen shoved gauze in his face and Q-tips up his nose. It was after he’d congratulated Rich Franklin on a dominant victory to retain his middleweight title at UFC 56 in November 2005, after he’d held it together all the way through a classy post-fight interview even as the blood was still spraying from his mouth as he spoke to UFC commentator Joe Rogan.



Then Quarry walked backstage, away from the cameras and the prying eyes, and completely fell apart.



“I just remember showering in the locker room and collapsing and crying,” Quarry said. “I remember saying to myself, of course this is how it’s supposed to go down. Of course I’m never...