The UFC took swift action against lightweight Luis Peña, who’s been embroiled in several domestic violence cases.
On Saturday, UFC lightweight Luis Peña was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and battery. Three days later, the UFC has taken action.
According to TMZ, the company got in touch with Peña’s management team to inform them about the termination of the fighter’s contract.
“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,” the statement read.
“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 later confirmed the news during Tuesday Night’s Contender Series media scrum.
“This was a bad case,” he told the media. “And we knew that he had problems before that we were trying to help him with.
“This is a pretty nasty one. I don’t know if you guys read the police report, but, yeah. This one had to happen.
When asked how this situation compares with another domestic violence arrest of a bigger company superstar like Jon Jones, White had this response.
“Something like that could happen to (any fighter). Could happen to anybody.”
Saturday’s incident was the third time Peña was arrested in 2021. In May, “Violent Bob Ross” was charged with domestic battery for allegedly punching a woman in the face. And in June, he was also charged with robbery and battery for allegedly grabbing a woman’s phone and destroying it.
Peña (9-3) entered the UFC via TUF 27 in 2018 under Daniel Cormier’s team and had since compiled a 5-3 record with the company. He last saw action at UFC Vegas 24 in May against Alex Munoz and won via split decision.
Support for survivors of domestic violence can be found from the following organizations:
USA – The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
Canada – DAWN-RAFH Canada
UK and Ireland – Women’s Aid: 0808-2000-247
Rest of the World – HotPeachPages