Life isn’t perfect for Chris Gutierrez these days, but it’s better than it was last November, when a dream call-up to the UFC turned into a nightmare in the space of the nine minutes and 12 seconds it took for Raoni Barcelos to hand the bantamweight a submission defeat at the TUF 28 Finale in Las Vegas.
“I was going through my own little struggles and, unfortunately, the day of the fight my own emotions overtook me and I didn’t get to perform,” Gutierrez said. “I was upset and disappointed in myself. But this time around, I know the things that I needed to work on and I’ve been doing it, and you’re gonna see a different person.