Leon Edwards was just nine-years-old when he moved from Jamaica to Birmingham with his mum and younger brother.
His father, once the leader of a local gang, was the first to move to England from Kingston. The parents had separated, so the father lived away in London.
Four years later, Edwards' mum picked up the phone and was on the receiving end of a devastating call.
At 2am in October 2004, she learnt that her husband had been shot and killed in a nightclub in Croydon.
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"I knew what he was involved in, so I knew eventually something would happen to my dad," Edwards told the BBC.
"When it's a late phone call you know it's something bad. It was a traumatic situation. It wasn't like he died in his sleep - he got murdered.
"It was like a spiral effect; it definitely made me more angry and more willing to partake in that life."
Edwards puts his father's death to 'something to do with money' and at the age of 13 he started to gravitate towards 'a life of crime'.
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"We did what all gangs do. Sell drugs, there were robberies, shootings and stabbings," he said.
"I was arrested a few times, for fights and having a knife. My mum had to come to the police station many times to get me out.
"I knew what I was doing was breaking her heart, but I just kept doing it because your friends are doing it and as a teenager you're just involved.
"At the time your brain is so diluted and so focused you think this is life, and this is your world. You can't see outside of it."
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Edwards' life changed forever when he was walking to the bus stop with his mother and she spotted a gym above a DVD rental store.
Aged 17, Edwards picked up a mixed martial arts (MMA) film and never looked back.
After signing up to a few classes, it turns out he was a natural.
"I could see my mum was proud of me, when I was bringing home trophies and that, and that's what kept me at it," Edwards explained.
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"If you did something negative [in gangs], everyone supports you, then if you do something good I realised you get the same praise, so I was thinking 'well I might as well do good then'.
"I was thinking I should enjoy my life and not have to look behind my back at people trying to stab me, see the world - and that's what I did. I put all my energy into training at 17 and just never looked back."
Aged 18, he made his first amateur debut, and just five years later he signed with the UFC.
His record stands at 26 fights, 22 wins and three losses, with one no contest. Now, the 32-year-old is currently the UFC Welterweight Champion.
Anish Vij