Ex-UFC fighter War Machine reportedly engaged to prison pen pal
War Machine has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance for being released until he is 71, but that is apparently not going to stop the former UFC fighter from getting married to a woman he met while behind bars.
War Machine, whose real name is Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver, was sentenced to life in prison last year for attacking his ex-girlfriend Christy Mack and a man she was with at the time back in 2014. His charges included assault, kidnapping, strangulation, coercion and trying to dissuade a witness from reporting a crime, and he will not be eligible for parole for another 35 years. According to a report from TMZ, War Machine recently got engaged to a woman he met last year as a pen pal.
The woman, 30-year-old Ashley Farrington, began writing to War Machine last summer. Eventually she began visiting him in Ely State Prison in Nevada, and the two now plan to hold a wedding ceremony in prison. As TMZ notes, prison laws in Nevada will allow War Machine and Farrigton to share a hug but nothing more.
War Machine’s case received attention in 2014 after Mack, an adult film star, went public with some disturbing photos of her injuries. He later apologized to Mack in a lengthy statement on Twitter but also shared some bizarre thoughts about how overjoyed he is to have been sentenced to life in prison.
