UFC Hall of Fame Frankie Edgar has finished his retirement, but he has not returned to MMA.
Instead, the former UFC lightweight champion is taking on the challenge of a naked knuckle fight as part of New Jersey’s first BKFC card on October 4th.
At the event, Edgar is expected to clash with Jimmy Rivera, a UFC veteran who has competed for BKFC for the past few years, while accumulating an overall 2-2-1 record in the promotions.
Several people with knowledge of promotional planning confirmed the news about the MMA battle following an initial report from Yahoo! Sports.
Edgar will return to action almost three years after retiring from the sport after losing to Chris Gutierrez in the UFC. This fight continued with Edgar’s three consecutive knockout losses, so he ultimately decided to call it a career.
Edgar, 43, has since been inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, opening his own gym and holding a podcast. Now, while competing in the UFC, he is about to rekindle some of the sparks that have become threatening in multiple divisions.
Edgar will return to Rivera as part of the BKFC event heading to Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Another pair of UFC veterans were found as Mike Perry clashes with Jeremy Stephens in the “King of Violence” title fight.
Additional battles for the New Jersey BKFC card are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Mike Heck contributed to this report