Former porn star: War Machine beating up Christy Mack was 'bound to happen'

We can add another disturbing incident to War Machine's long history of violence. The UFC and Bellator veteran, as well as part-time porn actor, is currently imprisoned for a particularly brutal case of domestic violence, after beating his girlfriend, fellow porn actress Christy Mack, in August of last year.

Now, retired adult performer Brooke Haven shared a story with The Daily Beast, where she tells how War Machine, whose real name is Jonathan Koppenhaver, went "ballistic" at a porn party she threw in 2009. Haven and him had just done a scene together one day prior to the party.

BloodyElbow posted a report of the incident when it first happened 6 years ago, and here's Haven's side of the story:

"We were all at my birthday party and he was there with a girlfriend of his. He actually showed up to my birthday party early and was blowing up balloons and everything was fine, and the next thing I know he was doing some drugs. His girlfriend was talking to a friend of mine and War Machine walked up and slapped her. And then it all escalated from there. Some guys at the party went over and said, "Hey, man, don't do that," and he just lost it. I was in front of him trying to talk him out of it but he was just looking at me with a blank stare on his face. It was like I was talking to a wall. It was almost, to me, like he just blacked out. It was like he didn't even know what he was doing and went on a rampage."

Haven explained that War Machine never hit her, even when she was standing right in front of him and tried to calm him down. Instead, he started to randomly punch various male guests at the party.

"He was just taking on anyone—people that weren't even approaching him. When he hit Alec Knight, Alec Knight was just standing there with a drink in his hand smoking a cigarette and War Machine just went over and punched him in the face, knocking him out cold. He ended up getting a bunch of staples in his head."

Apart from the scene they shot together, Haven didn't know War Machine before inviting him to her party and has blocked all contact since. She states doesn't have the slightest idea why the struggling 33-year old might have gone off like that.

"I am not him so I don't know what he was doing for sure. He was doing steroids, but who knows what was going on in his head. I don't know if he has mental issues, he could be bipolar for all I know. But I also know I've never seen anyone snap the way I saw him snap."

A year after the incident, War Machine went to prison for two years after attacking a female bartender and a bouncer in a San Diego bar. And then last year, he hit rock bottom when he brutally beat up his then-girlfriend Christy Mack. Something, Haven saw coming years ago.

"I wasn't surprised. I knew it was going to happen. It's not the first time that he's beaten her up and she's stayed. She chose to stay. It's never right for any man to lay a hand on a woman, but I thought it was going to happen and it did happen. [...] I've known the other times he's beaten her up. There was a time in November, a time in February—and she stayed. And it wasn't the first time he beat her up but this was the first time it escalated to this and became this bad. She didn't end up in the hospital before. And she chose to stay with him. You just figure with somebody with that reputation who can snap like that, it was bound to happen."

War Machine is still incarcerated and tried to commit suicide in his cell six months ago. One month later he plead not guilty and is currently in trial for 36 separate charges, including attempted murder and sexual assault. He faces life sentence without parole.

Watch MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani interview Christy Mack and War Machine in 2013: