Jimmie Rivera's path to the UFC started with a teenage crush and earned him a second family.
Danny Schulmann heard about this kid his teenage daughter had a crush on and he wanted to go size him up. This was about 12 years ago.
Schulmann, better known as "Tiger" in martial arts circles, is a former multiple-time karate champion and the patriarch of the famed Tiger Schulmann's MMA schools all over New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
His daughter Danielle was training for her karate black belt when she was 14 years old alongside a boy Schulmann didn't know named Jimmie Rivera.