Edouardo Larenas, a former UFC fighter and mixed martial artist who competed under the name Icho during his fighting days, has been acquitted of murder.
In a Laval, Quebec courtroom this past week, a 12-member jury returned a not guilty verdict in a case stemming from a 2022 home invasion.
Per a report by the Montreal Gazette, the Argentinian’s Laval-area home had been broken into not once but twice on the night of May 23, 2022. During the second invasion, Larenas found himself in a life-or-death struggle with an armed 17-year old youth.
The attacker wound up on the wrong end of his own knife.
The jury took three days to deliver their verdict, which had them examine Larenas’ version of events, as well as question what motive he would have to commit murder under the circumstances.
In conjunction with his arrest, police had speculated that the incident had links to organized crime. The fighter and his wife, however, suggested they were targeted for robbery due to an inheritance.
During his testimony, Larenas, who competed for the UFC once in 2006 at UFC 58, testified he did not remember stabbing his attacker during an extended struggle. He theorized that it was possible the young man fell on his knife after Larenas disarmed him.
The would-be robber’s name cannot be publicized under Canadian law due to his age.
Larenas’s wife, Gladys Rosana Lopez, had been charged as an accomplice, but was previously acquitted by a judge due to a lack of evidence.
Police in Canada have habitually pushed self-defense cases to already overwhelmed courts, such as in an Oshawa, Ontario case in 2025 which saw a man forced to fight off an intruder armed with a crossbow, only to face charges himself. The incident sparked a national debate on self-defense in the country.
The Larenas ruling serves as a reminder that yes, Canadians do have a right to defend themselves in their own homes.
Larenas, with a career record of 6-6 as a pro, last fought in 2018 in a losing effort under the TKO banner. During his fighting career, he shared the cage with the likes of Krzysztof Soszynski and hockey enforcer Steve Bosse, who would both have careers with the UFC as well.