Kron Gracie was booked to make his mixed martial arts (MMA) return as part of the Victory Fighting League (VFL) pay-per-view (PPV) event on Dec. 12 at Terminal 5 in New York City. Unfortunately, New York State Athletic Commission (NSAC) rejected Gracie’s application for a license to compete, putting an end to his featherweight main event against Tom Picciano.
“Regrettably, Kron will not compete on Friday, as he did not receive medical clearance from the New York State Athletic Commission,” VFL CEO Dan Anderson said in today’s release (via MMA Fighting). “We appreciate your patience and support during this period. We anticipate resolving this matter promptly and having Kron reappear to fight in the new year.”
Gracie, 37, has not competed since losing to Bryce Mitchell under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) banner back in late 2024. Following a stellar run for RIZIN in Japan, the Brazilian was just 1-3 inside the Octagon and responsible for one of the worst fights of 2023, thanks to his stinker at UFC 288.
“I’m cleared to fight with all my doctors,” Gracie (5-3) wrote in his Instagram stories. “NYSAC has been very difficult in many ways! I am very ready and able to fight! I appreciate all my fans and friends who came out, I trained for five months and spent a lot of money on this camp, this sucks.”
Kron Gracie will no longer be making his return to MMA at Victory Fighting League 3 after he was not medically cleared to compete and has been forced to withdraw. He was originally scheduled to fight Tom Picciano at the event on December 12th, 2025 but has been forced off the card on just a few days’ notice. It would have been the first time that Kron had fought in over a year, and the first fight since he parted ways with the UFC. It was going to be a pretty important moment for him in terms of putting his MMA career back on track, but now it looks like that will have to wait until 2026.
The last time fans got to see Kron in action was when he suffered a knockout loss to Bryce Mitchell at UFC 310. That marked the first time he had been finished in his professional MMA career but it was his third loss in a row; with his last win dating back to 2019. The loss to Mitchell came as a direct result of Kron’s decision to jump into closed guard, but he’s openly said that he won’t be doing that again. With more than a year out of competition to work on his skills, it’ll be interesting to see what the new and improved Kron Gracie will look like in action.
Victory Fighting League announced the news that Kron Gracie was forced to withdraw from his MMA return after not receiving medical clearance in a recent story posted to their official Instagram account:
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