Frankie Edgar almost shied away from going through with his return to competition following a bad experience with BKFC.
“The Answer” was scheduled to clash with fellow ex-UFC star Jimmie Rivera at BKFC 82 on Oct. 4, 2025. The fight ultimately didn’t take place as the bare-knuckle promotion flagged Edgar’s medicals. This left the UFC Hall of Famer enraged as he insisted that he had the same medical results from when BKFC initially agreed to get him signed.
Edgar nearly shut the door on all opportunities to compete again before he was convinced to give Real American Freestyle a try. He told MMAFighting.com that the experience with BKFC left him jaded.
“Honestly, I almost closed the door on wrestling. Just competing in general,” Edgar said. “Clay [Guida] actually hit me up after that and was trying to get me to wrestle [in RAF] and I was kind of on the fence.
“Because I was hurt, I guess you could say. I was ready to go. I was pissed off. It left a bad taste in my mouth.”
Edgar now has a wrestling match scheduled with former UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili at RAF 9 on Saturday. Edgar might continue to compete in freestyle wrestling matches depending on the outcome of his match with “The Machine.”
“I could definitely see myself doing this [more],” Edgar said. “Once I got this signed, something woke up in me. I love preparing for competition. It’s a lot safer on your head so I don’t worry about that. But as long as my body holds up, I’ll do this as long as I can if all works well on May 30.”
Edgar admitted that he is content with not competing in MMA or boxing moving forward. He admitted that it’s a “young man’s game,” but wrestling could be his path to staying active in some capacity.
Would you rather see Frankie Edgar compete in wrestling matches than trading strikes given how the end of his pro MMA career played out? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
