Dana White has explained his reason for cutting Luis Pena from the UFC roster.
‘Violent Bob Ross’ has been arrested twice in 2021. On both occasions, Pena was allegedly involved in an incident of domestic violence.
In June, the now-former UFC fighter was arrested on battery charges, robbery by sudden snatching, and criminal mischief after striking his girlfriend and destroying her phone. After his arrest, Pena wrote on social media about his long and ongoing struggles with mental health issues.
Last week, Pena was again in trouble with the law. This time the 28-year-old was accused of striking two women. According to the police report, the MMA fighter was beating up his girlfriend when a passer-by intervened. Pena then struck the good Samaritan and was subsequently charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and simple battery.
On Tuesday, the UFC explained their decision to cut Pena in a statement to TMZ.
“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. 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.”
After the latest episode of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, the UFC boss spoke about the decision to cut Pena and discussed if Jon Jones might follow him out the door after his most recent arrest on similar charges.
Dana White Reacts To Luis Pena Being Cut By The UFC
“This was a bad case,” White said. 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.
The UFC president was then asked if Jones could face the same fate as Pena.
“Something like that could happen to anybody. Yeah. It could happen to anybody,” White replied.
Do you think Dana White is seriously contemplating cutting Jon Jones from the UFC?