LAS VEGAS—Thursday morning saw the continuation of the sexual assault/kidnapping/attempted murder trial of former MMA star Jonathan Koppenhaver, better known to the world as "War Machine." On the witness stand once again was one of his victims, former adult actress Christy Mack, this time dressed more conservatively than on Wednesday, in a black jacket and high-neck white striped blouse.
Mack spent most of the day under cross-examination by defense attorney Jay Leiderman, and among the revelations he elicited from the 25-year-old was that shortly before she was attacked, she had sent Koppenhaver, her former boyfriend, a topless photo of herself to his phone.
"I need that," Koppenhaver replied.
"It’s all yours," Mack answered, not realizing that Koppenhaver would come to her house and attempt to take what was "his."
But once he was inside, Mack's goose was cooked.
"There’s no way I could physically overpower him," she testified, adding that he would have beaten her "10 times worse" if she'd tried to fight back.
As it was, Koppenhaver did so much damage to Mack's leg in the attack that "I was limping for probably two weeks afterwards," she stated. Since then, she's had several plastic surgeries to repair damage to her face, including a broken nose and knocked-out teeth, plus she suffered two cracked ribs. She also testified that Koppenhaver used his knife to cut off her signature Mohawk during the altercation—a style she abandoned following the beating.
After Koppenhaver had turned his attention from Mack's boyfriend Corey Thomas to her, he grabbed her cellphone and started looking through the photos and call log.
"Any time he would see something that he didn't like ... he would hit me," she said, crying.
During this time, Mack said Koppenhaver "kicked her so hard in her ribs she collapsed and started convulsing, the New York Daily News reported.
"I genuinely felt like I was going to die at this point," Mack told the room.
Koppenhaver didn't just physically hit Mack, he also threatened to kill her because her bruises were too bad and people would notice.
"Now I have to kill you, I've gone too far," Mack said Koppenhaver told her. "You can't be seen like this. Everyone's gonna know."
Later, Mack said, she thought she'd blacked out from the attack, suddenly finding herself in the shower, naked, and tasting blood in her mouth.
After being released from the hospital, "I would hide in my bedroom for days on end," Mack told prosecutor Jacqueline Bluth. "I was extremely embarrassed. I always thought of myself as a strong individual. I realize now that I shouldn’t have been embarrassed."
Mack had originally met Koppenhaver during a photo shoot she'd done for Hustler magazine in 2013, but the fighter already had several scenes under his belt beginning in 2010, having worked for, among others, Pure Play Media, Zero Tolerance and Mile High Media.
In retrospect, now that three years have passed since the attack, Mack told the jury she feels she understands the dynamics of her relationship with Koppenhaver.
"Now that I’ve looked into abusive relationships and I understand manipulation and abusive relationships between a boyfriend and girlfriend and how feelings play into it, I look back and realize that is not how it should have been," she said.
The trial will continue Friday morning.
