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…Posted by Lezlye Rivera
on Friday,
January 8, 2021
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.