Rivalries: Chris Gutierrez

Years of hard work and consistent performance have brought Chris Gutierrez to the top of the bill in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The 32-year-old Factory X bantamweight will collide with Yadong Song in the UFC Fight Night 233 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, where a decisive victory could conceivably propel him into the Top 10 at 135 pounds. Gutierrez has rattled off five wins across his past six outings. The former Sugar Creek Showdown and World Fighting Championships titleholder last appeared at UFC Fight Night 230, where he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Heili Alateng in their three-round encounter on Oct. 14.

As Gutierrez makes final preparations for his upcoming battle with Song, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped shape his career to this point:

Timur Valiev

The talented but enigmatic Russian exacted a measure of revenge under the World Series of Fighting flag when he when he pocketed a unanimous decision over Gutierrez in their WSOF 33 rematch on Oct. 6, 2016 at Municipal Auditorium Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. Scores were 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27. Valiev executed takedowns in all three rounds—a belly-to-back suplex in the middle stanza was a clear highlight—and consolidated those efforts by pairing extended periods of stifling control with ground-and-pound and timely positional advances. Gutierrez’s frustration built throughout the 15-minute affair, and he appeared to grow somewhat gun-shy in standup exchanges due to the threat of being taken down. The win moved Valiev to 1-1 in his head-to-head series with the American, who had beaten him on split scorecards at WSOF 28 some seven months earlier.

Cody Durden

The hard-nosed Covington, Georgia, native battled to a unanimous draw with Gutierrez in a three-round UFC Fight Night 173 bantamweight prelim on Aug. 1, 2020 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges struck 28-28 scorecards. Durden roared out of the gate and perhaps caught the Marc Montoya protégé off-guard with his aggression in the first round, where he secured a takedown, progressed to the back and spent four-plus minutes in complete control. He showered Gutierrez with short punches and hammerfists, all while threatening rear-naked chokes and neck cranks. While Durden’s efforts failed to produce a finish, they resulted in a 10-8 mark on each scorecard. They also came at a cost, as the American Top Team Atlanta rep depleted his gas tank and had to go the rest of the way on fumes. Gutirrez battered him with kicks across the final 10 minutes and managed to deny 10 of his final 11 takedown attempts.

Frankie Edgar

Gutierrez knocked out “The Answer” with a brutal knee strike in the second round of their UFC 281 bantamweight showcase on Nov. 12, 2022 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The retiring Edgar bowed out 2:01 into Round 1, his remarkable career coming to a close in ignominious fashion. Gutierrez circled on the perimeter, unleashed a few of his patented leg kicks and waited for an opening to present itself. The Greenville, Texas, native fired a knee up the middle that caught Edgar clean on the chin and propelled him backward onto the canvas in a supine position. No follow-up shots were required. It was Gutierrez’s first first-round knockout in nearly eight years and provided him with a signature victory moving forward.

Pedro Munhoz

The former Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion on April 15, 2023 outmaneuvered Gutierrez to a unanimous decision in their featured UFC on ESPN 44 attraction at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Munhoz swept the scorecards with matching 30-27 marks from all three members of the cageside judiciary. The American Top Team export leaned on relentless pressure and made the most of a hot start, as he floored Gutierrez with a clean left before he controlled the rest of the first round with ground-and-pound, submission attempts and positional advances. Munhoz ultimately forced “El Guapo” into a reactive state on his back foot, often reducing him to single strikes. Perhaps sensing his back was against the proverbial wall, Gutierrez changed gears in Round 3. There, he turned to more exotic techniques—he even tried a rolling thunder kick at one point—but failed to connect with something meaningful enough to alter the direction of the fight.