Sister Issues Statement of Support for Irwin Rivera: ‘He Completely Broke’

The family of Irwin Rivera has come to his defense after the UFC bantamweight was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder in Florida.

Rivera was booked after allegedly stabbing his sisters and was charged with two counts of homicide. According to a police report, one sister was hospitalized with two collapsed lungs among other injuries, while the other suffered multiple stab wounds to her back, face, arms and hands. Rivera “said that he did so because it was his purpose, which he was told to by a higher power,” per the report.

On Friday, Rivera’s sister, Lezlye, issued a statement via Facebook in support of her brother while admitting that he wasn’t mentally stable at the time of the alleged attacks. Her full, unedited message is as follows:

me and kelz are fine n well so we just wanna clear the air n let it be known that this is not about us! We love our brother to the fullest and anyone that knows us n our family knows exactly how much we all LOVE and mean to eachother and knows jst how close we as a family are , all we wish is for him to get the professional mental help he so desperately needs.

This past weekend my brother hasn’t been acting like himself . Not sleeping or talking like himself and completely just losing interest in his training, which we all know is what he lives to do. This concerned me and had me jump on the next airplane ASAP n go check up on him. Unfortunately his mental stage was worse then we could of imagined and before we could help him he completely broke. This is not easy for me or my family but I ask to pleeeeesse keep MY BROTHER in your prayers , pray he can stabilize and come back to us bc sometime withing the past 24hours his mentality has been completely corrupted into something unrecognizable. Again we LOVE OUR BROTHER and are 100% here to support him n try n get him this help he so desperately needs!

According to ESPN, both sisters, Lezlye and Kelly, remain hospitalized but in stable condition.

Rivera’s mother, Susana Campos, told Mexican outlet Milenio that her son "lost his memory and something evil took over him a few days ago. His mind was blocked. He wasn't himself.”

Rivera made his first public appearance in court on Friday morning and was issued a no-contact order against his family, per a report from MMAFighting.com. He was then moved to a mental health facility, where he will remain until he meets the criteria to be transported back to jail.

Rivera competed three times under the UFC banner in 2020. The Titan FC veteran went 1-2 in the Octagon, most recently dropping a split verdict to Andre Ewell at UFC Fight Night 178 on Sept. 19.