(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.

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