Last August Jon "War Machine" Koppenhaver made headlines, not for an MMA fight but for an alleged attack on his on/off love, Christy Mack. He supposedly had used an old key to let himself into the home he had once shared with Mack and upon finding her asleep with a male friend, Koppenhaver nearly killed the woman that he supposedly loved. 36 different charges, including attempted murder have been filed against Koppenhaver and months later, Mack is still in the process of healing, both physically and emotionally. She recently sat for a pretty amazing interview with ESPN, explaining how things gradually turned so bad between them.
When this story first made headlines back in August people were quick to make an excuse for Koppenhaver, while somehow blaming Mack and her porn star status for the incident. Then the photos of her went viral and Mack suddenly had a mountain of support behind her as she recovered from 18 broken bones, a ruptured liver, broken teeth and a fractured rib. Even now the physical seems minor compared to how Mack's identity was completely stripped from her.
"I didn't look in the mirror for weeks. Just feeling my face, I knew it wasn't right, so when I'd look in the mirror, it's not me—that person wasn't me. It's so hard to go every day without being you anymore," explains Mack.
As it turns out, this extremely violent incident wasn't the first between them, according to Mack. She claims that Koppenhaver stopped leaving his aggression in the cage pretty early on in their relationship. "It was an amazing connection, I fell in love really quick. He became abusive about four to five months in, but by that time I was totally in love with him. So, so in love. The first time I thought, 'Oh it'll never happen again.' The day after, he stayed home from training and coddled me. After every time he would hit me, those were the best days of our relationship," says Mack while explaining how the violent cycle continued on for awhile before she finally ended the relationship.
Mack still has at least one more surgery ahead of her and while her body still hasn't fully recovered, her sense of humor appears to be pretty on-point again. While Koppenhaver is behind bars, alternating between blaming Mack and threatening to take his own life, she now spends a great deal of time working with both domestic violence and animal rescue charities.
Have you followed this story since the beginning? If so, what are your thoughts? Do you think Koppenhaver will ever see life outside of prison again? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
