It only took one weigh-in mishap for the UFC to nip Luis Pena’s featherweight plans in the bud.
Luis Pena made his featherweight debut in March in a unanimous decision victory over Steven Peterson, but it was not a total success. Pena missed weight by 2 1/2 pounds and the sunken figure on the scales may have been more of a scare to the promotion than the miss itself. For his next fight, Pena will be returning to the lightweight division, not by choice, but by bureaucratic force:
“That was definitely the UFC’s (decision),” Pena told theScore about moving up in weight. “As much as I did want to stay at featherweight, I can’t lie though, I’ve gotten a lot bigger since the last fight. This fight being at lightweight does kind of work out for me. I’m not necessarily mad about moving up.”
In his lightweight return, Luis Pena will be facing Matt Wiman at UFC on ESPN +12 in three weeks. We sometimes hear fighters reveal that they looked up to a future opponent before entering the UFC. In the case of Luis Pena, we have a fighter who had to look his opponent up:
“I definitely looked him up, he seems to be a good fighter,” Pena said. “He’s real grindy, he likes to come forward and throw hands. He can do everything, you know what I’m saying? I’m prepared for a fight everywhere. … I’m definitely looking to utilize my height and reach in this fight.
“We’re probably going to meet in the middle and bang it out for three rounds,” he said. “I’m hoping to get the knockout and take home some bonus money, as always. The worst thing to happen to me is getting the bonus money in my debut because now I’m chasing it.”
Do you believe the UFC should have granted Luis Pena another chance in the featherweight division before forcing him to move up?
