UFC Releases Luis Pena Following Two Recent Domestic Violence Arrests

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.