This is true, but in facing the former lightweight champ, Gutierrez has the chance to beat an icon of the sport on a pay-per-view main card in the Mecca of combat sports. In other words, despite sporting a 6-0-1 record in his last seven UFC fights, he is on the verge of becoming an overnight success by Sunday morning.
UFC COUNTDOWN: Full Episode | Adesanya vs Pereira | Esparza vs Zhang | Poirier vs Chandler
“I understand people are gonna think it’s an overnight success if it goes my way, and I plan it to go my way, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it was an overnight success,” he said. “There’s years behind the scenes that were built to get to where I’m at. It’s definitely not an overnight success. I know the reality of everything that went into this. I’ve been working at this for a while, been doing this since I was 14-15 years old and I’m 31, so it kinda shows that I’ve been here and I’ve been putting in the work and I never stopped showing up.”
Forgetting those little details is the way of the world in 2022, though, and Gutierrez, a pro since 2013, doesn’t take it personally. He doesn’t even get annoyed that he’s likely to get booed on Saturday night despite being, like Edgar, a New Jersey native.
“I know people aren’t gonna like me,” said Gutierrez, who was born in Jersey City. “Hell, I’m from the east coast myself – I’m from New Jersey – so you would think it would be some kind of neutral, but I know he’s gonna have a heavier crowd and that’s fine. They’re not gonna get in there and fight me. It’s gonna be him.”
