Luis Peña has finally opened up about his release from the UFC following his string of legal issues.
Peña was let go by the UFC in October after his second arrest of the year. The former Ultimate Fighter competitor was arrested in June of 2021 for strong-armed robbery, battery, and criminal mischief. In October, he was again arrested for allegedly striking two women, one of them, his girlfriend.
Shortly after his release, Peña was again arrested in November for four misdemeanors charges including battery, criminal mischief, battery causing bodily harm, and touching or striking battery or domestic violence. With all that being said, he’s looking forward to his first mixed martial arts (MMA) fight since his UFC release.
Speaking to MMA Sucka, Peña was asked about his release from the UFC following his string of legal issues, and if he’s fine with how everything played out. Peña explained that he wasn’t sure how he expected things to play out. He simply adjusted to everything on the fly.
“I mean, I wasn’t necessarily fine with it,” Luis Peña said. “But at the same time, I didn’t really expect them to go digging. I don’t really know how I expected everything to be handled.
“Because I didn’t expect everything to happen. I maintained my innocence throughout everything so I didn’t really see any of this coming. I didn’t know how to expect — the reaction and everything, which has been colorful, to say the least. I didn’t really know how to deal with everything. I was kind of learning and adjusting on the fly.”
Peña Unaffected By The Backlash
Of course, in the aftermath of all that has happened, Peña, as expected, was met with a lot of backlash online. “Violent Bob Ross” said there’s not a day that goes by where he’s not met with criticism, but he knows in his heart what truly happened, so he doesn’t let the hearsay affect him.
“I saw it, don’t get me wrong. I see it every day. I would say there’s not a day I don’t go by where I don’t see something on Instagram or Facebook from somebody trying to call me some terrible name or something like that from everything. I mean, I see it all, I don’t care.
“I really don’t care about it, you know. There was a point where it was like, ‘Man, this kind of sucks.’ There was even a point earlier in my career when I would get sh*t-talked and it would really affect me.
“Now it’s like — when you know what the people are saying about you isn’t true, it really doesn’t affect you at all.”
Luis Peña will step into the cage for Titan FC against Zach Zane on May 6 for Titan FC 76 in Miami, Florida. It’s his first fight in over a year since his last bout in the UFC. With fight week here, Peña is sure to be asked a lot of questions about his legal issues, but he doesn’t seem too worried about what may or may not be made from those answers.
“Not really. Like I said, when you know you didn’t do something, it’s not a thing to you,” Pena said. “I’m not worried about any of the questions that are going to come up, I’m not worried about anything anyone could say about me.
“I know what happened and I know the truth behind all of this. So it’s not a big deal to me as far as what could possibly come up. At the end of the day, for me, it’s just another week, it’s just another day. It’s a fight.”
Continue Reading Luis Peña Opens Up About UFC Release Amidst Legal Issues at MMA News.