When former UFC star Frankie Edgar announced that he was coming out of retirement to fight in bareknuckle boxing promotion BKFC the news was met with dismay rather than excitement from concerned fans, and it seems that medical experts were also left troubled by his intended participation as he’s since been pulled from the show.
Edgar was of course an excellent fighter in his day, winning the lightweight title during a long career in the UFC that would eventually lead to him being included in the hall of fame.
However, the end of his career was tough to watch as the fan favorite’s durability declined drastically in the twilight stage of his time in the Octagon, including being KO’d three times in a row before retiring in 2022.
Now 43-years-old, a comeback always seemed like a terrible idea, and so while Edgar is apparently unhappy that his fight was cancelled on the advise of BKFC’s medical team, the promotions owner David Feldman believes it was the right thing to do.
“I think he’s mad at us because we took away an opportunity from him,” Feldman told mmafighting.com. “Again, sometimes you have to save fighters from themselves, and I’m not saying that we saved Frankie from himself, but I’m saying for that night, our medical team wasn’t prepared for that and that’s why. Will we revisit it? We’ll certainly talk to him if he’s interested, we’ll definitely dive deep, and if we can make it happen we will.”
Feldman has attempted to smooth the situation over however by confirming that Edgar will be paid despite not being allowed to compete.
“Honestly, I don’t even know if he even wants to fight with us again,” Feldman said. “I think he’s a little upset with us, as maybe he should be, but at the end of the day, we were looking out for his best interests. He is getting a very, very respectable check. I don’t think he’s mad at us for that.
Feldman went on to acknowledge that part of the reason for stepping away from the fight was due to concerns over potential legal action for promotions who continue to allow fighters to compete despite potentially having brain damage.
“There’s a lot of talk right now and a lot of things flying around about CTE right now and actually coming after commissions and coming after promoters for it,” Feldman said. “That definitely had something to do with our decision. That certainly had something to do with our decision.
“When we do anything, we’re going to weigh risk and reward. What’s the risk? What’s the reward? The reward on this one, we didn’t think outweighed the risks, that’s why we did that.”
Feldman says that the decision to take Edgar out of the firing line has been met with wide-spread support from fans who already know that the star has the heart of a lion and has nothing left to prove.
“You know what made me feel good about the situation, when they did post it was cancelled and 99 percent of the fans said thank you,” Feldman said. “‘Thank you for looking out for the fighters. Thank you, thank you, thank you.’
“Instead of saying, ‘You screwed over Frankie Edgar, that’s a bunch of crap.’ It didn’t go that way and that’s what made me at least feel good that it was the right decision.”
It’s definitely a big relief that the right decision has been reached in the end to protect Edgar from further damage, though the reality is that it was a bad idea from BKFC to even entertain the idea of allowing him to compete in the first place.
