Luis Peña

Luis Pena vs. Steve Garcia

Round 1
In a lightweight contest, the man with one of the best nicknames of the sport in “Violent Bob Ross” Pena (7-2, 3-2 UFC) will try to make “Mean Machine” Garcia (11-3, 0-0 UFC) feel unwelcome in his promotional debut. The third man inside the Octagon is referee Mike King once again. The two clash legs right out of the gate, and Garcia is kicking low. Pena opens up with a right jab, and stings Garcia as the debuting fighter whiffs with a huge right hand. Garcia starts to work him over with punches, and Pena clinches up. As Pena walks him towards the cage, Pena lifts up a big knee, and Garcia catches it. When he gets leverage, he lifts Pena up and slams him down, but “Violent Bob Ross” is not down for long. He springs to his feet, and pressures Garcia until Garcia gives up his back. Pena sets up a body triangle and starts to throw long punches and elbows to try to open up Garcia’s neck for a choke. Pena lands an elbow that appears borderline legal, in both the angle and the location, and then starts landing punches until Garcia gives up the neck. Pena hunts for the rear-naked choke, and Garcia is defending it as he fights off a hook, and frees himself from the choke attempt. The punches that continue to follow from Pena have opened up the nose of Garcia, and Pena keeps his full body weight on his opponent as he tries to flatten him out. Garcia rolls around, and lands a heavy elbow from behind that makes Pena turn away. Pena goes after the neck once more, and is searching for a neck crank instead of a rear-naked choke. Pena goes palm-to-palm, but Garcia wrenches the hands free and fights up to get back to a knee. Pena slams a few elbows down, and Garcia rolls out to give his back up again. While Pena is in back control the two surprisingly trade elbows, and the round ends.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Pena
Mike Sloan scores the round: 10-9 Pena
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-8 Pena

Round 2
Garcia charges out of his corner like his hair is on fire, landing a superman punch and chasing after him with punches and kicks. In the flurry, Garcia puts himself in danger, and Pena is quick to circle out and take his opponent’s back quickly. Pena tries to jump on Garcia’s back to bully him down, but instead lets go and just drags him down while maintaining the back position. Pena sets up a body lock, and Pena is aiming for the choke while Garcia fights it off by controlling one wrist with both hands. Garcia turns around for a moment, lands an unexpectedly powerful elbow, and turns back while he fights free. “Mean Machine” starts elbowing the thighs of his adversary to break the lock, all while Pena is punching him in the head. Garcia lands some effective strikes again from behind his head, but “Violent Bob Ross” ignores them as he goes after the choke. He cinches up a rear-naked choke that is not under the chin, and Garcia grits it out and lets Pena try to burn his arms out. Garcia continues to throw blind punches behind him, and most of them land, but he is unable to escape from danger as Pena holds tight. Garcia continues to slug it out without seeing his target, and he appears to mark up the eye of his foe. Garcia is throwing double hammer fists and swinging at him while the two start screaming at each other. Garcia is a madman as he keeps throwing and shouts "Let's go," and earns Pena’s respect as the two embrace when we hear the horn.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Pena
Mike Sloan scores the round: 10-9 Pena
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Pena

Round 3
This time, Pena leaps in the air to start the round, and bowls Garcia over. As Garcia goes down, Pena falls face down into a triangle choke attempt, and Garcia tightens his legs up from around Pena’s neck. Pena is in the danger zone now, and Garcia nearly wraps up a triangle armbar, until Pena stands upright and Garcia falls off. “Violent Bob Ross” uses the moment of confusion to grab the back of Garcia again, and we return to the position where we spent the majority of the last frame. Pena tries to go after another rear-naked choke from a different angle, and Garcia is able to defend it by not pulling on the wrists but instead punching Pena in the head. Pena readjusts, and squeezes for more of a palm-to-palm neck crank, and lets go but sinks in the body triangle. “Mean Machine” twists and turns to end up on top, but Pena is just able to fight him off and stay with back control. Garcia elects to land punches and elbows with his adversary behind him, and some of these elbows are doing damage as Pena’s nose has started to bleed. Pena again snatches up a rear-naked choke, but only briefly, as Garcia squirms and fights it off once more. Garcia throws a barrage of strikes including more double hammer fists, and Pena opts to throw right back at him. The “slugfest” from an unusual position ends with the horn, and a valiant but largely nullified Garcia bellows as he is upset by his performance.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Pena (30-27 Pena)
Mike Sloan scores the round: 10-9 Pena (30-27 Pena)
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Pena (30-26 Pena)

The Official Result
Luis Pena def. Steve Garcia via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Luis Pena vs. Matt Frevola

Round 1
Pena (7-1, 3-1 UFC), who was recently
the inaugural guest on Sherdog.com contributor Jordan Colbert's new show "Blunt Force Trauma"
is up next, as he clashes with Serra-Longo Fight Team standout Frevola (7-1-1, 1-1-1 UFC). Serving as the referee for this lightweight fight is Herb Dean. There is no touch of gloves, as Frevola charges in with strikes, swinging with everything he has in the opening seconds of the round. "The Steamrolla" wings two huge hooks that fall short, but he lands several leg kicks to Pena's outstretched lead leg. While Frevola is unable to connect with these huge right hands, he is working the right leg of Pena often. As Frevola ducks down to throw one of those rights, Pena throws a heavy body kick. Frevola stings Pena with a right, backing "Violent Bob Ross" up and scoring a takedown, although Pena gets right back up. Frevola clips Frevola with a one-two, and Frevola responds with that big right again. Frevola shoots in low for a single, and as Pena almost escapes, Frevola lifts him up and slams him down. On his back, Pena pulls for an exceptionally unorthodox head-and-arm choke to get Frevola locked up, and Pena uses the submission attempt to sweep Frevola. As they scramble, they return standing, so Pena unloads a few short knees as he clinches up and tries to take Frevola down. As Frevola breaks away, Pena fires off a long combination that hurts Frevola, and "The Steamrolla" responds with a right hand that catches Pena on the chin. The two men trade until the time expires to end the round.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Frevola
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Frevola
Cole Shelton scores the round: 10-9 Pena

Round 2
Pena rushes out from his corner to start the action, and he clips Frevola right out of the gate, opening a cut under Frevola's left eye. Pena fakes for a loopy swing with his arm and leaps in the air with a knee, catching Frevola flush and sending him staggering. Pena pulls Frevola down and goes after a kimura, but Frevola yanks his arm out and stands up. As he gets to his feet, Pena cracks Frevola with several more knees, and Frevola's face is showing more and more damage. Pena looks comfortable with his timing, working the right jab and busting up Frevola under his right eye. A combination from Pena sends the gumshield hurling out of Frevola's mouth, so he strolls over to pick it up as Dean pauses the action. Frevola closes the distance with a superman punch, but not before Pena kicks him in the face. Pena goes for that same arm swinging-flying knee attack, but Frevola sees it coming and dodges out of the way. Pena fires a big head kick and lands it squarely, but it is Pena who falls over. "The Steamrolla" charges in, and he cannot capitalize on it as Pena gets back up. Frevola shoots in for a takedown, and Pena fishes for a kimura off his back before switching to a triangle choke setup. Frevola pushes the legs away and tries to start ground-and-pound. As Pena explodes to his feet, Frevola says "not so fast, my friend" and suplexes Pena. "Violent Bob Ross" scrambles out of the position and ends up in control of Frevola's back with seconds to go, and he drops down a few punches before the round ends.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Pena
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Pena
Cole Shelton scores the round: 10-9 Pena

Round 3
The final round opens up with Pena trying to keep the distance, backing away when Frevola comes at him and pumping a right jab in Frevola's face. Frevola jumps with a front kick to the body, and Pena tries to come back at him with a straight right. "The Steamrolla" rumbles forward and digs to the body, but comes up short when trying to fire a right over the top. "Violent Bob Ross" launches up a head kick and Frevola barely blocks it in time, and the mere impact of the kick makes Frevola lose his footing briefly. The crowd starts chanting "Steamrolla," and an energized Frevola blitzes in and tags Pena. Pena tries to pull off his tricky flying knee again, and as Frevola avoids the assault, he clips Pena with a straight right to send Pena falling backwards. Pena recovers, pushes Frevola away, and looks to set the jab up again. Frevola counters over the top with a left, and then thumps a right to the body. Seeing his foe may be tired, Pena leaps in with another knee, but Frevola scampers away by circling off the cage. Frevola clips Pena with a right, and then a left, but Pena is coming on strong and lands hard with a left of his own. With 10 seconds remaining, Frevola shoots in for a takedown to try to steal the round, and as the horn sounds, it's anyone's guess who goes home with the win.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Frevola (29-28 Frevola)
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Frevola (29-28 Frevola)
Cole Shelton scores the round: 10-9 Frevola (29-28 Pena)

The Official Result
Matt Frevola def. Luis Pena via Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)