The Ultimate Fighting Championship has parted ways with Luis Pena
following two arrests for domestic violence in the past few
months.
TMZ Sports was first to confirm Pena’s arrest with the Las
Vegas-based promotion on Tuesday evening.
“UFC is aware of the disturbing allegations concerning the recent
arrest of Luis Pena. Mr. Pena has been open about his struggles
with mental health and substance abuse issues and the organization
has on multiple prior occasions attempted to help him get
professional treatment,” read a statement from the organization. “At this time, UFC believes Mr. Pena needs to deal with the health
and legal issues in front of him, and consequently has informed Mr.
Pena’s management that his promotional agreement has been
terminated.” UFC president Dana White also addressed the Pena
situation following Week 7 of the Contender Series.
“This was a bad case and we knew he had problems before that we
were trying to help him with,” White told reporters. “Yeah, this
was a pretty nasty one, I don’t know if you guys read the police
report, but this one had to happen.”
Pena was arrested this past Saturday in Deerfield Beach, Fla. on
charges of domestic violence and battery. According to a
probable cause affadavit, Pena is accused of hitting his girlfirend
with a closed fist “multiple times.” Pena allegedly continued to
strike his girlfriend while she was on the ground, and the woman
also suffered abrasions on her left wrist and a bite mark near her
left knee.
According to the affadavit, another woman who witnessed the alleged
assault attempted to stop Pena, and the fighter struck the woman in
the eye with a closed fist. That resulted in the woman falling to
the ground, and she was left with a purple contusion to her eye as
well as a laceration on her right elbow due to the fall.
Both women provided sworn statements regarding the incident. Police
initially responded to a domestic disturbance call in Deerfield
Beach, Fla., at approximately 12:34 a.m. local time Saturday. Pena
was released on $6,000 bond on Monday.
Previously, Pena was arrested and charged with robbery by sudden
snatching, battery and criminal mischief following a fight with his
girlfriend on June 14. Pena allegedly smashed the woman’s phone on
the ground and punched her in the head, and had reportedly been
suicidal. Around that same time, Pena also authored multiple posts
on social media regarding his battle with mental health issues.
A cast member on Season 27 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Pena went 5-3
during his tenure with the UFC. Most recently, he captured a
split-decision triumph against Alex Munoz at UFC on ESPN 22 on
April 17.