UFC bantamweight fighter Irwin Rivera was released from custody after being charged with attempted murder earlier this year.
According to ESPN, Rivera plead not guilty with a plea of insanity on two attempts of attempted murder. The two people he stabbed were his sisters. According to court documents, Rivera will live with his parents who will take care of him. Rivera’s teammates Gilbert Burns and Sean Soriano, or his parents must be with Rivera whenever he travels outside the county.
Rivera’s sisters who he stabbed, also testified on behalf of Rivera and his case to be released from police custody. Rivera’s career and life outside of a hospital rely solely on his compliance to follow all the guidelines set to him by the court orders. Those include him staying on his prescribed medication and also being under the care of a psychiatrist. His sisters did not have any long-term damage done to them, but they were both stabbed repeatedly in many different areas of their body. Rivera stated that a higher power had provoked him to do such heinous actions. His sisters and family have stood behind him since the incident happened.
According to ESPN, Dr. Sheila Rapa was a witness for the prosecution and stated that “”Mr. Rivera was suffering from an acute episode of psychosis, particularly Bipolar I Disorder, and Mr. Rivera was unaware of his symptoms which were not being controlled by prescribed psychotropic medication. He lacked the ability of insight to tell reality from fantasy or right from wrong.”
Rivera has had 3 fights in his UFC career and is 1-2 in the promotion. He lost to Giga Chikadze in his UFC debut back in 2020 where he fought in the featherweight division.
Do you think the UFC will offer Irwin Rivera another fight following his release from custody?