(Photo via Fox5Vegas)
Much-reviled MMA fighter War Machine (aka Jon Koppenhaver) made his first court appearance in Las Vegas today, following the alleged assault of his girlfriend Christy Mack last month. The UFC/Bellator veteran was formally read th…
Much-reviled MMA fighter War Machine (aka Jon Koppenhaver) made his first court appearance in Las Vegas today, following the alleged assault of his girlfriend Christy Mack last month. The UFC/Bellator veteran was formally read the charges against him, which now include allegations of attempted murder and sexual assault dating back to May 2013. As the Las Vegas Review Journal reports:
Koppenhaver, who originally faced nine charges in connection with the alleged attack last month, now faces a total of 32 counts, including attempted murder, sexual assault, battery, coercion, preventing or dissuading a witness or victim from reporting a crime, and first-degree kidnapping resulting in substantial bodily harm.
According to @PandulloLaw, the number of charges is actually 31, with an original lewdness charge now dropped. Also, this:
Koppenhaver was ordered to be held without bail, and is due back in court on October 17th. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Bellator has fired War Machine after a report from TMZ claimed he was involved in a domestic violence investigation.
TMZ’s report claimed the domestic dispute involved three people at War Machine’s Las Vegas home. Two people were reportedly injured so bad they had to go to the hospital. The report claimed one victim was War Machine’s “significant other.”
A tweet from Christy Mack, War Machine’s sort of girlfriend (the “it’s complicated” relationship status was made for them), seems to confirm the report:
(War Machine in 2007 / Photo via Getty)
Bellator has fired War Machine after a report from TMZ claimed he was involved in a domestic violence investigation.
TMZ’s report claimed the domestic dispute involved three people at War Machine’s Las Vegas home. Two people were reportedly injured so bad they had to go to the hospital. The report claimed one victim was War Machine’s “significant other.”
A tweet from Christy Mack, War Machine’s sort of girlfriend (the “it’s complicated” relationship status was made for them), seems to confirm the report:
War Machine seemingly tweeted about the incident as well:
While nothing is official yet, a domestic violence incident seems pretty likely. We hate to say this was inevitable, it seemed inevitable given War Machine’s sordid history.
Fortunately, Bellator under Scott Coker threw the book at War Machine.
“We have a zero tolerance policy here at Bellator when it relates to any form of domestic violence,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a press release sent to CagePotato. “And after learning of this latest incident involving Jon Koppenhaver, War Machine, Bellator is releasing him from his promotional contract with the organization.”
War Machine has been arrested before, so who knows if and how long he’ll be incarcerated this time. His last fight was a loss to Ron Keslar at Bellator 104. To be honest, Bellator is better off without him.
(They can put you behind bars. They can fire you for being an idiot. But damn it, they’ll never take your sense of joy.)
On June 19th, War Machine (formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver) will finally make his Bellator debut, when he faces WEC veteran Blas Avena at Bellator 96. The fight will come four-and-a-half years after the short-fused welterweight was first signed by Bellator back in early 2009. Let’s just say their schedules haven’t matched up since then.
Now that War Machine is all healed up, he’ll allegedly be making his Bellator debut on the promotion’s 2013 Summer Series premiere on Spike TV, assuming he doesn’t beat up another civilian, or sustain another training injury, or get cut again for simply expressing his honest thoughts. Machine hasn’t competed since his TKO win over Roger Huerta in November 2011, while Avena recently snapped a two-year winless streak by TKO’ing Lenny Lovato at Bellator 91 in February.
Can War Machine rebuild his career in the #2 MMA promotion? And what the hell kind of name is “Blas,” anyway?
(They can put you behind bars. They can fire you for being an idiot. But damn it, they’ll never take your sense of joy.)
On June 19th, War Machine (formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver) will finally make his Bellator debut, when he faces WEC veteran Blas Avena at Bellator 96. The fight will come four-and-a-half years after the short-fused welterweight was first signed by Bellator back in early 2009. Let’s just say their schedules haven’t matched up since then.
Now that War Machine is all healed up, he’ll allegedly be making his Bellator debut on the promotion’s 2013 Summer Series premiere on Spike TV, assuming he doesn’t beat up another civilian, or sustain another training injury, or get cut again for simply expressing his honest thoughts. Machine hasn’t competed since his TKO win over Roger Huerta in November 2011, while Avena recently snapped a two-year winless streak by TKO’ing Lenny Lovato at Bellator 91 in February.
Can War Machine rebuild his career in the #2 MMA promotion? And what the hell kind of name is “Blas,” anyway?
(Covering up that neck tattoo before going to court would have been a good idea.)
If you’ve been missing War Machine’s acclaimed Big House Blogs, you’re probably the only group that is going to be happy about this news.
According to the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, he has been sentenced to another year in jail in Las Vegas for an old charge, forcing him to withdraw from Bellator’s season six welterweight tournament that gets underway in March. He indicated on Twitter that he will begin serving his sentence in two weeks and that, as per usual, he isn’t happy with the system.
(Covering up that neck tattoo before going to court would have been a good idea.)
If you’ve been missing War Machine’s acclaimed Big House Blogs, you’re probably the only group that is going to be happy about this news.
According to the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, he has been sentenced to another year in jail in Las Vegas for an old charge, forcing him to withdraw from Bellator’s season six welterweight tournament that gets underway in March. He indicated on Twitter that he will begin serving his sentence in two weeks and that, as per usual, he isn’t happy with the system.
“Seems my year in jail wasnt enough. Just got sentenced to another year in Vegas for some old bullshit. Nevermind Im rehabilitated. Nevermind Ive been out for over 6 months now and doing great and am finally back on my feet. Nevermind all my students that will miss me. Do another year and rot n waste time. Make no money, pay no taxes. Whatever, I just hope my boy @bensaundersMMA wins @BellatorMMA tournament. Fuck the motherfucking system! Fuck the bullshit! Vacation time, back to jail in 2 weeks! Cant stop me, all you can do is delay the inevitable. War Machine will always be back! Oh ya the judge looked and me and said she can tell Im on steroids and that thats prolly why I got in so many fights and am angry..lol Bitch”
I actually feel bad for the guy. He genuinely seemed to be focusing on getting his life together and he had an impressive showing against former UFC poster boy Roger Huerta. Maybe changing his name back to Jon would be a step in the right direction since most judges might look at the name “War Machine” as being a red flag.
I’m guessing this won’t help sway his belief that Obama has fucked up America beyond repair.
Filed under: Bellator, NewsJon “War Machine” Koppenhaver, the fighter who first gained fame on The Ultimate Fighter before his career was sidelined by legal troubles, has signed on with Bellator, fresh off his release from jail and a win in his first f…
Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver, the fighter who first gained fame on The Ultimate Fighter before his career was sidelined by legal troubles, has signed on with Bellator, fresh off his release from jail and a win in his first fight back.
Koppenhaver’s signing is actually the second time he’s hooked up with the organization. In 2009, he was set to start with the group but was cut before ever actually fighting for them.
That was just one of a series of problems in a topsy-turvy life that has included among other things, serving one year in jail for a felony assault conviction, and briefly performing in adult movies.
In his fight career, he is 12-4, and has fought once since regaining his freedom, defeating Roger Huerta by third-round TKO in November.
Bellator did not offer details on when he might debut, but it’s likely that he will be included in their upcoming welterweight tournament when their sixth season begins on March 2.
Our favorite MMA convict, War Machine is a free man in just under a month and when he gets out, the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver wants all of us to know that even though his Big House Blogswill cease, he plans on continuing to entertain us with an autobiography he has been penning the past few months behind bars.
Check out what he had to say about his tome and his final weeks in jail in his two latest blog entries after the jump.
Our favorite MMA convict, War Machine is a free man in just under a month and when he gets out, the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver wants all of us to know that even though his Big House Blogswill cease, he plans on continuing to entertain us with an autobiography he has been penning the past few months behind bars.
Check out what he had to say about his tome and his final weeks in jail in his two latest blog entries below:
June 2nd, 2011
Oh shiiitt! It’s June! Can’t fucking believe I’ve been in this shit hole 11 months!! July 15th I’m free! Hell yeah! I’ve been getting in pretty good shape too. Hopefully the transition back to real training will be smooth, can’t wait to fight! OMG! My fingers ache from trying to finish a rough draft of my book by my release. Fuck pencils/paper! I wish I had my MacBook! Once I’m free I’m gonna clean it up nice and try to get it published. I think it will do well, I’ve read several NY Times Best Selling Auto-Bios and wasn’t too impressed. I have done A LOT and learned A LOT. Much more than the people in the book I’ve read, we’ll see though. If nothing else, it killed a lot of time for me in here. Fuck! I’m so excited to get out, I have a lot of high expectations for the future. Anyway, same boring shit in here, people’s lives wasting away. Another guy OD’d and was seizing as they rolled him out on the stretcher, he lived, but there’s something creepy about watching a seizure, I hate it! Gives me the heeby geebies. Anyway, I read a crazy book series by Zecharia Sitchin called “The Earth Chronicles” – you should check it out, makes you think! Also been reading a couple of that guy Pavel Tsatsouline’s books… he says some good shit, a small amount of dumb shit, but overall good. BUT, he CONSTANTLY advertises all his other books, throughout each book, and it’s fucking obnoxious! Makes me not like him as much, but maybe it’s the publisher’s fault? Either way, you should check them out. Alright, more next week! Thanks for the continued e-mails and support!
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June 10th, 2011
I’m in pretty good shape now, given my circumstances, but doing the same shit over and over again wears on you. Sucks though cuz options are limited when you’re stuck in a cell 24/7. Just need to keep at it another month until I get out so I can hit the gym and be ready to fight ASAP!! I heard BAMMA is having a show on Sept. 10th and I really want on it! That’s only 10 weeks of real training after 12 months of nothing but I’m confident that I’ll bounce back quick and be able to beat some ass by Sept. 10th! Fuck! I hope I can get on that card! And once I’m in shape and got my 1st fight back out of the way, I’m gonna keep on scrappin’ non-stop so promoters EVERYWHERE need to throw fights at me non-stop! Fuck fighting a few times/year – I’m gonna do a Jeremy Horn and fight all the time.
Anyway, sick of all the idiots in here. I sit back and observe and it all makes me sick. Gangs are a joke. They act all righteous and family-like face to face and then they burn one another constantly as soon as they turn around. Bunch of fakers, liars, and cheaters man. I feel bad for the young kids that get sucked into that life, as they look for a sense of family and for male role models. Kids that grow up around that garbage never even had a chance man. I can see that all of these dudes are just human and have goodness in them but the years of the life they’ve lived has conditioned and programmed them into what they are now. Oh well, what can you do? Fuck it, just ready to be back to my life. Really look forward to showing the world that I’m serious and have a new outlook on life! I’m over the dumb shit, just want to do positive and be successful from now on.
So there’s a new skinhead in our module and apparently, he doesn’t approve of me being in “the hole” for the reason which I’m here for. If you haven’t been following my Tweets/blogs, I’m here because 1) I was sick of having cellies and 2) To make sure I don’t get in any fights my last few months. I WANT TO GO HOME, NOT GET NEW CHARGES. He says if I want to remain “active” I need to go back to the “main-line.” LOL. I told him this jail bullshit ain’t my world and that I can care less about being “active.” He then asked why I don’t go to the “PC” module. I said “What for?” He said, “That’s where you go for protective custody.” As if I’m protecting myself from others? I’m protecting myself from myself! Then he kept mentioning how things would be different if there weren’t a door between us. I said, “Why? What difference would it make if it weren’t? I’d beat you up and then what?” LOL. Anyway, if I want to be part of the “white man” I need to go back to “mainline” or go “PC.” Why the fuck would I want to live with child molesters and rats!? Just cuz I don’t want to take part in this world of phony respect and politics I should live with rats and child molesters? Yeah right! Anyway, now the “active” white men are not allowed to talk to me, and in the future if I went to prison again or whatever, I’d get fucked up… blah blah blah. Don’t care and don’t plan on coming back. Jail politics can suck my dick!
