UFC Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar passed his pre-fight medical tests ahead of Saturday night’s bout in Newark, but the chief medical officer of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships declined to clear him, NJ Advance Media has learned.
“He passed all of his tests,” said David Feldman, the founder and president of BKFC. “It was just that after we reviewed everything and went over with our team and a couple of other outsiders from the association of ringside physicians, the chief medical officer just didn’t feel comfortable moving forward. And we talked to Frankie about it and came to an agreement to make sure he is taken care of for all of his preparation and promotion that he did.”
Edgar did not immediately return calls for comment.
Edgar, 43, retired from the UFC after his third straight knockout defeat in 2022, but planned to return to fighting in BKFC 82 at the Prudential Center Saturday night. He was scheduled to face Elmwood Park Police officer Jimmie Rivera until being abruptly dropped from the card within the last week. The event will feature the first state-sanctioned bare knuckle fights in New Jersey history.
“Look, Frankie is a New Jersey hero, a former UFC lightweight world champion,” Conor McGregor, who is a partner in BKFC, told NJ Advance Media. “Very sad, very upset, but safety is paramount. He’ll recover, he’ll return. Through the storm comes the light. Frankie must look through the cloud to the sun and get there, and he will. There is something here for Frankie Edgar down the line. He was up against a tough match.”
To gain clearance from the state Athletic Control Board, he underwent an echocardiogram, stress test, eye examination, bloodwork panel, EKG and MRI. On September 22, he told NJ Advance Media that he was scheduled for an MRA that day and that it was the last test he needed to have done.
After twice being rejected by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board in recent years, BKFC was sanctioned following a hearing before the board in Trenton on July 27. BKFC’s events feature intense fisticuffs with no gloves for the boxers in what the group calls a “squared circle” ring with no corners to hide in. Its popularity has grown since being first sanctioned in Wyoming in 2018. On January 25, Knuckle Mania V drew over 17,000 fans to the Wells Fargo Center for a sell out in Philadelphia. Organzers expect t around 12,000 fans in attendance for Saturday night’s bouts.
Edgar, who grew up in Toms River and claimed the UFC lightweight championship in 2010, signed a two-fight deal with BKFC and had been training at a gym in Freehold, as well as the Frankie Edgar Iron Army Academy that he oversees in a Toms River strip mall.
In recent weeks, he acknowledged that his family was not enthusiastic about his return to fighting, but the father of three embraced the challenge of training for a combat sport once again. To those who questioned his decision making, he pointed to the fact that he did not have to worry about front kicks or flying knees that leveled him late in his UFC run, only fists. He also said that his shoulders and neck felt healthy. Around the end of his career, he underwent hip replacement surgery and a discectomy.
BKFC believed that his legendary status locally would draw fans to the showcase.
“We’re in Jersey. You guys came here,” Edgar said during a promotional press conference outside the Prudential Center in August. “It’s hard to pass up. As soon as I saw this sport, I was intrigued. I’m a fighter. This is probably the fightiest of all combat sports.”
Edgar used to scrap on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights and wrestled in high school at Toms River East, as well as for Clarion University. He then pivoted to MMA, where he mounted and head butted his opponent before mounting him again and landing 27 straight punches for a win in his first underground match at a gym in the Bronx 20 years ago.
His takedown talents propelled him around the world as he fought as close as Newark and as far away as Japan and South Korea. But a toll was taken along the way as he lost six of his final eight UFC fights. Following his defeat against Cory Sandhagen in 2021, Edgar acknowledged in the post-match locker room that he did not remember fighting earlier that night.
At the time of his retirement, Edgar’s 7 hours, 57 minutes and 12 seconds logged in the octagon were the most for any fighter in UFC history. Last year, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
The BKFC event will continue without Edgar. Former UFC stars Jeremy Stephens and Mike Perry will fight for the King of Violence belt in the main event. Timmy Mason, of Montana, will replace Edgar and fight Rivera, who is 36 years old.
“I’ve always wanted to fight a cop,” Mason said during a press conference at the Prudential Center on Thursday.