NEW WINDSOR – Seven kids wearing Tiger Schulmann MMA shirts listen to Shane Burgos’ every word.

Burgos urges his students, ranging from 6-13 years old, to go for a takedown over a guillotine chokehold.

“Learn how to defend the choke and learn how to get out of the choke,” Burgos says during the lesson on Thursday.

His next class grows to 17 students. Three more classes with adults will follow.

Eleven years ago, Burgos took his first mixed-martial-arts lesson at the same Tiger Schulmann school in Orange County. The location has changed from Monroe to New Windsor. Burgos hasn’t.

Burgos, 26, is on the verge of his third fight in UFC, the sport’s top organization. He never forgets where it all started for him.

“Some of these people have known me since I was a teenager,” said Burgos, a 2009 Monroe-Woodbury graduate and Harriman resident. “I have some kids out here that have known me literally their entire lives since they were born. I remember them being in a baby carriage.

“So if I can do it, why can’t they? I’m nobody special. If anything, I shouldn’t be able to do it because of my back. If I can do it, anybody can do it.”

Burgos was diagnosed with a severe case of scoliosis at age 16. His back had a 49-degree curve. Fusion surgery was needed.

“I have two metal rods and $15,000 worth of screws in my back right now,” Burgos said.

Burgos, nicknamed the “Hurricane,” has overcome his condition to become one of UFC’s rising fighters. He took his first UFC featherweight (145-pound) fight with just two weeks to train and defeated veteran Brazilian fighter Tiago Trator by decision on Dec. 9 in Albany. Burgos stopped Charles Rosa in the third round by technical knockout in his next fight, on April 8 in Buffalo.

“I’m really happy for him because this is his dream,” said Kayla Alvarado, Burgos’ cousin, who has attended his first two UFC fights. “I always remember getting together for all of the fights at his house. He would play the UFC video games and love it.”

Burgos, who is undefeated in nine professional MMA fights, battles Brazilian Godofredo Pepey in the second of 13 bouts on the UFC’s Fox 25 card Saturday at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island. The fight will be shown on UFC Fight Pass and should start around 4:30 p.m.

Burgos has trained up to five hours a day for this fight. He’s wrestled, grappled, boxed, kick-boxed and completed, “tons and tons of cardio” for a potential 15 minutes in the cage. One of Burgos’ sparring partners was Dennis “The Menace” Bermudez, a 2005 Saugerties graduate fighting Darren Elkins in the co-main event.

Success has happened quickly for Burgos. It was just seven months ago that he stepped in for his first UFC fight. Burgos has one fight left on his UFC contract. Another win would give him leverage to renegotiate and extend his UFC career.

“Making it to the UFC and being 2-0 in the UFC is definitely showing my evolution as a fighter,” Burgos said. “I look back on my first couple of fights and I see how terrible I looked. I won those fights. But this version of me would destroy that version. You have to constantly evolve. If you are staying stagnant, you are going to get beat and cut eventually.”

sinterdonato@th-record.com

Twitter: @salinterdonato