Midnight Mania! UFC Bantamweight Arrested, Faces Attempted Murder Charges

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

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Per a report from ESPN, UFC Bantamweight Irwin Rivera was arrested Thursday in W…


UFC Fight Night: Ewell v Rivera
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Per a report from ESPN, UFC Bantamweight Irwin Rivera was arrested Thursday in West Palm Beach, Florida on a pair of attempted murder charges. More specifically, Rivera is accused of stabbing his two sisters.

According to the incident report obtained by ESPN, Boynton Beach police officers were called to a residence and found two women, aged 22 and 33, with multiple stab wounds. Both women were alive and taken to the hospital. One of the sisters revealed that they were staying in one of Rivera’s spare bedrooms, when the UFC veteran attacked them with a knife.

At 7 A.M. Thursday morning, police found Rivera, whop had fled the scene of the stabbing. Per the report, Rivera said, “I killed my sisters.” He admitted to entering his sisters’ bedroom while they were asleep and stabbing them with a “brass knuckle knife.” Rivera told police that he believed the stabbing/attempted murder was his purpose, assigned to him by a “higher power.”

UFC released the following statement to MMAFighting:

“UFC is aware of the recent incident involving Irwin Rivera and subsequently received information from his management that he has been exhibiting behavior consistent with mental health issues,” the statement read. “The allegations are extremely troubling, and the organization is currently gathering additional information. The investigation is ongoing and any potential next steps, including disciplinary action or medical attention, will be determined upon the conclusion. Furthermore, UFC has informed Rivera’s management that he will not be offered a bout at this time.”

All three of Irwin’s UFC bouts took place in 2020. He lost a short-notice debut opposite Giga Chikadze before splitting a pair of decisions to Ali AlQaisi and Andre Ewell.

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