Irwin Rivera was released from the UFC after he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Former UFC fighter Irwin Rivera, who in 2021 was granted a conditional release in relation to a pair of attempted murder charges, has signed with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Eagle FC. MMA Junkie reports that Rivera is scheduled to make his promotional debut at Eagle FC 46 in Miami, Fl on May 11. His slated opponent is Firdavs Khasanov.
Rivera’s UFC career was cut short in January last year when he was accused of stabbing his two sisters. After Rivera was taken into custody, his sisters advocated on his behalf—explaining to authorities that Rivera had experienced a mental health crisis.
Doctors later confirmed that Rivera had suffered an “acute episode of psychosis” on the day of the attack. Doctors told a court in Palm Beach County, Fl that Rivera’s mental health has since been stabilized through both medication and therapy. Doctors also told the court that Rivera should be able to return to his normal activities, including professional fighting.
Rivera’s conditional release states that the fighter must continue to take medication and attend therapy. His travel is also to be supervised by his MMA teammates Gilbert Burns and Sean Soriano.
Rivera made three appearances for the UFC before his arrest. He debuted in the Octagon in May 2020 in a unanimous decision loss to Giga Chikadze. He rebounded from that defeat with a split decision win over Ali AlQaisi. A month later, in his most recent fight, he took a split decision loss to Andre Ewell.
Eagle 46 is set to be headlined by Kevin Lee vs. Diego Sanchez. Also scheduled is Rizvan Kuniev vs. Anthony Hamilton, Ray Borg vs. Ricky Bandejas and Raimond Magomedaliev vs. Impa Kasanganay.