The Porn Party Where War Machine Went Ballistic

“I believed I was going to die,” said Christy Mack. “He has beaten me many times before, but never this badly.” The 23-year-old porn star, known for her distinctive Mohawk, tweeted on Aug. 11 that her ex-boyfriend Jon Koppenhaver entered her Las Vegas home unannounced in the early hours of August 8 and beat her to within an inch of her life. The tweet was accompanied by photos of her bruised and battered body lying in a hospital bed, reportedly after suffering 18 broken bones, a fractured rib, ruptured liver, broken nose, multiple stab wounds, and several missing or broken teeth.

Mack claims that the assault was carried out by Koppenhaver, 32, a struggling MMA fighter and sometime porn actor who changed his name to “War Machine” back in 2008. Koppenhaver’s history of violence is well-documented, including misdemeanor assault charges in 2007 and 2008, as well as a two-year prison stint on a felony assault charge in 2010 after he attacked a female bartender in San Diego by sweeping bottles off the bar at her and punched a bouncer. A few hours after the alleged assault on Mack took place, Koppenhaver tweeted that she was his “property and always will be.”

On August 15, U.S. Marshals tracked down Koppenhaver—who was a fugitive at large—at the Extended Stay America Hotel in Simi Valley, California, and arrested the pugilist on suspicion of domestic battery, lewdness, strangulation, assault, and coercion, according to the Simi Valley Police Department.

Back in 2009, retired porn star Brooke Haven hosted a birthday party that quickly turned into a nightmare when Koppenhaver allegedly lost his mind, slapping his then-girlfriend and sending several innocent bystanders who leaped to her defense to the hospital with serious injuries.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Haven opens up about the terrifying experience that she won’t soon forget.

I’m sure you’re aware of what’s been going on with Christy Mack and the assault allegations. What was your reaction when you first heard the news?

Brooke Haven: 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.

And did you know it was going to happen because of War Machine's outburst at your birthday party back in 2009? What happened exactly?

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.

Did he just start attacking people?

Yes. 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.

Now what were you doing when that happened? Were you personally involved or were you trying to get out of the situation?

Well, according to War Machine I was more involved than I actually was because he's done interviews and said I was punching him in his face and I definitely was not. [Laughs] I was actually there and I was in front of War Machine and I was like, “Don’t do this, don’t ruin my party, just settle down.” Like I said, he wasn’t talking back, he didn’t try to hit me. It was just like talking to a blank wall. He just started hitting people left and right but he never hit me.

He never hit you even though you were standing in front of him?

Correct.

Was he mostly hitting men? Or men and women?

No, he only hit men at the party—other than his girlfriend, who he slapped in the face. But he didn’t punch her, he just slapped her across the face, which is of course unnecessary and should never happen. He didn’t go after any of the other girls at the party at all.

So why do you think he just snapped?

It's hard to say…I can only presume. 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.

That must have been really scary to see that happen.

Very scary. It definitely ruined the party!

Now how well did you know War Machine at that point?

Not very well. We’d just done a scene together I think the day before my party. And that’s how he got the invite to my party—after working together because he’d just gotten into porn.

So how did you deal with him after your party, after that incident?

I avoided him like the plague. I blocked him on Twitter and blocked him on my phone. I didn’t speak to him. I avoided him and to this day I have not seen him in person since then. And I’m fine with that.

Before your party did he have a reputation for being violent?

Not that I knew of, but I’m sure he did. I know he got into some trouble after my party because he was arrested in San Diego. I know they ended up putting a spit bag on his head because he was getting really violent and spitting and who knows what. So he did a little bit of jail time.

How do you think that affected his porn career? There are conflicting reports, but it looks like he might have worked for a few websites after that but it wasn't clear.

From what I remember reading, people were willing to hire him still because, you know how our industry is, people want to make money and they don’t care about the morals. Half were like, “We’ll never hire War Machine,” and the other half were like, “Of course we’ll still hire him if he wants to shoot for us.”

So you said earlier that War Machine’s rampage did not surprise you at all. Were you waiting for something like this to happen?

No, I wasn’t waiting but 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.