ESPN’s Jane McManus has an excellent piece on adult film actress Christy Mack and her relationship with alleged abuser, former UFC fighter War Machine. In August of 2014, Las Vegas prosecutors say Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver nearly beat Mack to death, pummeling her with punches to the face before ultimately attempting to rape her. Mack escaped and hid outside a neighbor’s house as they called police.
McManus was able to put together what likely happened that night from Mack’s statements and the police report. The details are hard to stomach.
Mack and Thomas were woken when Koppenhaver allegedly walked into the bedroom, turned on the light and began striking Thomas with his fists. In his testimony, Thomas said he’d been punched repeatedly and bit in the face by Koppenhaver before being placed in a chokehold. After about 10 minutes, Mack testified, Koppenhaver told him to leave the house and to not report the incident to the police. Thomas left the house, and he did not call the police.
Koppenhaver then began hitting Mack, according to the prosecution. He punched her multiple times, causing her to lose consciousness at least once, and kicked her in the side of her body.
As she laid on her bathroom floor, Mack says that Koppenhaver allegedly told her, “That is my p—-y, and I’m going to take it back now.” At some point, Mack says, Koppenhaver grabbed a knife and threatened her with it. She says she ended up naked and in the shower, though she’s not sure whether he undressed her or ordered her to take her clothes off. She told police that Koppenhaver tried to rape her, and prosecutors have charged him with sexual assault. In her testimony, Mack escaped the house only when Koppenhaver left the bedroom and entered the kitchen. She heard the clanging of metal and believes he went looking for another knife.
When it was all said and done, Mack was left with an injury to her liver, broken teeth, a broken nose, a fractured rib and 18 additional broken bones. A month after her attack, she bravely posted an update on her Twitter account. It was horrific.
https://twitter.com/ChristyMack/status/511238265261658112
Most of you know that War Machine later led police on a nationwide manhunt that ended in California on August 15. He was charged with sexual assault and the attempted murder of Christy Mack. In all, there were 36 charges against him.
The trial is set for September.
The ESPN column is definitely must-read material, even for those who aren’t MMA fans. It’s an ugly, yet brutally honest look at the face of domestic violence and a woman who, eight months later, still feels the physical and emotional effects of a night where she escaped certain death.
[ESPN]