Cagefighting is a cakewalk compared to UFC fighter David Branch’s previous job – as an iron worker walking on beams 30-stories high atop the New York skyline.

Branch, who grew up in the same Brownsville, NY, neighborhood that produced “Iron” Mike Tyson, once witnessed an iron worker colleague – working on a beam 24-stories high – lean over to cough and plunge to his death.

“The day before we were joking around at lunch time,” Branch said. “The next day I was picking his body up and putting it on a gurney.”

Even after witnessing the tragedy, Branch needed the money, so he kept working what annually ranks as one of the most dangerous and deadly jobs in America.

Every work day – following a night of intense MMA practices — Branch would rise at 5 a.m., and usually climb atop a towering steel beam by 7:30 a.m. He might be situated 30 stories or higher in the sky.

“I would sit on top of a building and look around at all of New York City,” he said. “I’d say to myself, ‘There’s got to be a better way. This is not me.’”

Here is my interview with the former two-division WSOF fighter and Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, who recently signed once again with the Ultimate Fighting Championship http://jp.ufc.com/news/branch-Preps-For-Toughest-Test