UFC legend Frankie Edgar has been pulled from his BKFC debut match against Jimmie Rivera.
Edgar was initially scheduled to compete this Saturday at BKFC 82 in Newark, New Jersey. NJ.com reported Wednesday that Edgar, 43, will no longer appear on the card due to undisclosed reasons — a report which Uncrowned has since confirmed. The bout would have been Edgar’s first of any kind in combat sports since his MMA retirement in late 2022.
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The news of Edgar’s removal comes just hours after BKFC founder Dave Feldman spoke about the fight in-studio on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” Feldman stated that the UFC Hall of Famer had to clear additional testing and that his chances of making it to fight night were a “coin toss.”
“There’s more medicals for someone in a high-risk category than there is for a guy that’s not in a high-risk category. He passed every medical,” Feldman told Uncrowned.
“We’ll determine [if he competes] later on today.”
Feldman shared in the conversation that a backup opponent for Edgar was already in place: Four-fight BKFC veteran Timmy Mason will now step in to face Rivera.
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Feldman also stated that he wouldn’t be opposed to still making a fight work with Edgar in the future.
“I really, really like Frankie Edgar,” Feldman said prior to the news. “I met him, he’s a cool dude. He’s real. He’s one of the realest guys I’ve ever met in fighting. But being a legend, you would never know he’s a legend by the way he acts. He’s just awesome.”
Edgar captured the UFC lightweight title in 2010 and then delivered two all-time classic wars with his chief rival, Gray Maynard, the following year. Perpetually heralded for his incredible toughness and his ability to overcome significant size disadvantages at 155 pounds, Edgar left the division behind after he dropped the belt and failed to regain it in 2012. He spent the rest of his UFC career at both featherweight and bantamweight. The damage taken over the years eventually caught up with Edgar’s historically durable chin, as he suffered knockouts in five of his last six losses.
