Frankie Edgar is fully in the mindset ahead of his Real American Freestyle debut, but he admits it took him a little while to get the competitive juices flowing again after a controversial ending to his BKFC relationship in late 2025.
BKFC booked Edgar for his first post-UFC bout, a bareknuckle boxing match vs. Jimmie Rivera scheduled for October. Weeks after the announcement and tickets-on-sale launch, Edgar was notified by the promotion they were pulling him from the card over medical concerns. Edgar said he passed all commission tests and called the promotion’s rationale “fugazi.”
Advertisement
“That definitely left a bad taste in my mouth,” Edgar recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “Clay Guida hit me up after the fight and was saying, ‘Hey, let’s try to get a wrestling match.’ I told him, ‘Bro, I just don’t know if I could dive back in right now.’ I was just so pissed off at the way it went down because I wasn’t even thinking about fighting or competing. Then they waved that big purse in front of my face. Then I get all in. I’m a week away, and they pull it out from me. I just felt like I got done dirty. That just pissed me off honestly.
“I never heard nothing bad about RAF or anything like those type of stuff, but I just didn’t even want to put myself in a position where I had to commit to something. Like all things, over time I got OK with the situation. I just like to compete. I’ve seen these other guys doing it. (Chris) Weidman’s on the card. I just felt like it’s a fun thing for me to do.”
Edgar, 44, will make his promotional debut May 30 when he takes on Merab Dvalishvili at RAF 09 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. Like many other UFC fighters past and present, Edgar passionately endorses the wrestling promotion and said it fills an important void in the current combat sports landscape.
“To get the biggest money, you’ve got to come with a name,” Edgar said. “You’ve got to do that name either in the wrestling world or maybe in the MMA world. I still think it’s a great opportunity for guys who maybe aren’t super popular to the MMA world but are very good wrestlers. They’re going to start making some money. If they can make some money off a UFC guy’s back or something and maybe catapult that to maybe some more money, that’s great. It’s just good for us. I’m obviously a little long in the teeth, but I get a chance to compete here and not really have to worry about taking damage.”
Advertisement
Merab Dvalishvili vs. Frankie Edgar preview
Dvalishvili will be no easy test, but Edgar is not disillusioned. He knows what he’s up against and is trying to shake off the wrestling rust as quickly as he can, training with some of the best partners and coaches New Jersey has to offer.
“He’s one of the best grapplers in the world without a doubt,” Edgar said. “You know, this is a wrestling match. I don’t think he’s really a traditional wrestler. Once he gets his hands on you, it’s all the same. We all know the pace he brings and all that. I’ve got to kind of try to use my skill and freestyle know-how. That’s kind of limited within itself. It’s been 22 years. My kids are really heavy into it right now, so that’s beneficial and I have really, really great people to work with: Steve Rivera, his son is Sebastian Rivera, who just took bronze in the Olympics 2024. I’m up at Rutgers University with Anthony Ashnault. He’s a stud wrestler, who just competed in RAF last month.
“I don’t have to go too far here in Jersey. We’ve got what we need.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Frankie Edgar ‘done dirty’ by BKFC, excited for RAF debut
