Fighting a fellow human being in a cage is not exactly the type of thing most regular people would describe as “really easy.” But, hey, maybe it just takes a scary confrontation with one’s own mortality to put that type of thing into perspective.

It did the trick for “The Ultimate Fighter 27: Undefeated” cast member Luis Pena, anyway.

It was 2016 and Team Cormier’s Pena (4-0), who took a unanimous nod over Team Miocic’s Jose Martinez Jr. (4-0) in a lightweight opening-round/quarterfinal matchup in this season’s recent third episode, was driving to practice at American Top Team when it happened.

“I’m going down the highway, merging from the center lane to the far west lane, and as I merged, my back left tire blew out, and it sent the back half of my car in the air,” Pena told MMAjunkie Radio. “And when it hit the ground, I started fish-tailing, and I ran my car into the side guard rail. That popped me into the air, and I did a bunch of rolls into the other guard rail.”

How bad did the whole thing look?

“I stuck my car into the guard rail so hard that that when the first responders got there, they had to cut it out with the ‘Jaws of Life’,” Pena said. ” … I remember I kicked the window out and crawled out. And there’s just like a wall of cars and people outside of their cars looking at me like I was some alien or something, walking toward them.”

Pena said the fault was his; he was driving at least 10 miles per hour over the speed limit in his biological mother’s SUV-type car. But, in his defense, he wasn’t actively trying to “look like an as-hole” there; he was just late for practice. Obviously, he was able to make it through the ordeal. But, considering he never lost consciousness as it unfolded, one can see why at one point he doubted that would be the case.

“I remember I’m rolling in the air, and I kind of accepted the fact that, here, any second, I was probably going to die,” Pena said. “Ever since then, I kind of just like – fighting’s been really easy. It’s really easy to go out there and just throw hands.”

We’re not sure about the easy bit, but Pena has certainly been doing well. Like the rest of his fellow “TUF 27” castmates, the 155-pound fighter remains undefeated. He’s finished all four of his pro bouts, three of them via submission and one via knockout, and moved on to the semifinals with Wednesday’s win over Martinez Jr.

Now back home, Pena said he’s developed a great relationship with 205-pound champ and “TUF 27” coach Daniel Cormier, who’s flying Pena out to train for a couple of months on the lead-up to his UFC 226 meeting with fellow UFC champ and opposing coach Stipe Miocic.

“Violent Bob Ross” said that he’s has also been using a lot of the techniques that Cormier’s assistant coach and grappling ace Leandro Vieira taught him. But out of all of the coaches, Pena said the strongest bond was formed with Cormier’s boxing aid, Rosendo Sanchez.

“Honestly, a lot of my movement – the back, and a lot of my turns (in Wednesday’s fight) were from his help,” Pena said. “Because, when I came into the house, I would kind of just use my range to get into the pocket and stay in the pocket. And try to use my range from the pocket, and stay in the pocket too long.

“Rosendo had me coming in and doing what I do, but then backing out, circling and then coming back in with counters and stuff. I’ll say, a lot of that came from Rosendo.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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