“Obviously, the Barcelos fight didn’t go my way, so I had to make that fight back up,” said Gutierrez. “Starting with Ryan MacDonald, I got that win. Then I went to Uruguay and got that win (over Geraldo de Freitas), and then I won in Vegas. Before that, I had some injuries, so I had some time to myself to really do some self-evaluating as far as me and everything I have to do, and I did. Luckily, the stuff that I’ve done has paid off and I don’t intend to stop. And actually, I’m going to go a little more foot to the throttle.”
About the only negative in Gutierrez’ life is the continuing custody battle for his three-year-old son Adrian, who he hasn’t seen in eight months. But fighters fight, and Gutierrez continues to battle for his son.
“I would like to be a father in my son’s life and I won’t stop until I get that,” he said. “That’s the objective. He is my biggest motivation.”
That motivation drives the Factory X team member, and while he was originally scheduled to face a bigger name in Luke Sanders, Gutierrez has no issues putting it on Durden this weekend.
“The game plan is to go out there and do me, really,” he said. “If I want to put him on his back, I’ll put him on his back. If I want to strike with him, I’ll strike with him. If I want to wrestle with him, I’ll wrestle with him. What I have to do is just keep knocking these people’s heads off. That’s all I have to do and all that I can do. I go in there thinking I’m fighting a world champion, and I have to go in there with that mentality.”
