(NEXSTAR) — For mixed martial artist Chris Gutierrez, fighting in the cage feels like home.
“I wanted to be like Bruce Lee. He was a smaller guy that knew how to kick butt,” Gutierrez said,
Born to a Guatemalan mother and Colombian father, and raised in Texas, Gutierrez was left alone a lot while his parents worked long hours and multiple jobs.
A daily struggle he did not want for himself.
“I saw how hard it was and I was like, ‘Alright, there’s got to be a different way.’ And there is a different way,” Gutierrez said.
While he and his brothers were left at home with little guidance, Gutierrez knows he could have taken the wrong path, but pivoted for a better future.
“I could have went to jail. I could have went on a bad path. And for a while, I was heading towards that,” Gutierrez said. “I don’t want the sacrifices that they did to come here to go to be wasted.”
Gutierrez said he first got into fighting as a way to learn self-defense, but his relentlessness and dedication led him to debuting in the UFC in 2019.
“In fighting, the moment you’re thinking about something, you’re probably getting hit,” Gutierrez said. “So you’ve got to adapt on the fly. Everything’s got to be instinctual.”
Now, approaching his 15th UFC fight in October, he reflects on his seven year as a UFC fighter he reflects on the hard work he put into his craft and hopes to inspire the next generation.
“This is hard. But you get to choose your hard, right?” Gutierrez said. “You got this one life. And it can be hard, but you’re the author of your own book.”