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[pa99fighter]

Jon Koppenhaver, a cast member on the latest season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” appeared in Superior Court on Thursday on felony assault and battery charges stemming from a September incident outside a San Diego training center.

According to the San Diego Tribune-Tribune, Koppenhaver had a preliminary hearing on Thursday, and if the case goes to trial, he faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) was unable to reach Koppenhaver for comment this afternoon.

Koppenhaver, who entered the UFC’s reality series with a 4-1 professional mixed-martial-arts record, was arrested soon after the show finished taping and just weeks before it debuted on Spike TV. Koppenhaver actually joined the cast a day late as a replacement for Roman Mitichyan, who entered the show with a pre-existing elbow injury.

Koppenhaver is accused of choking unconscious a man and striking him in the face outside Undisputed, a fitness and training center, on Sept. 2. Koppenhaver is a trainer at the facility. According to a San Diego police detective, Zatkow suffered four fractures to his left eye socket during the assault.

The man, Darren Zatkow, said he was confronted by a group of men and was choked from behind until he went unconscious. Zatkow’s friends said he was then assaulted.

A man testifying on Koppehaver’s behalf said the fighter held Zatkow, who admitted he had been drinking throughout the evening, during the confrontation but that that the assault was done by another man.

Koppenhaver most recently scored a come-from-behind, third-round TKO of Jared Rollins at “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra” live finale this past Saturday. The fight was shown live as part of the event’s televised main card.

Source: mmajunkie.com

[dbader08]

There are 2 sides to every story

and according to the dude that got choked out, koppenhaver just walked up to him and choked him out and then assaulted him...randomly..

now i seriously doubt that is how it went down...lol

[2mcgrath]

Originally Posted by dbader08

There are 2 sides to every story

and according to the dude that got choked out, koppenhaver just walked up to him and choked him out and then assaulted him...randomly..

now i seriously doubt that is how it went down...lol

yeah that part just dont make any sense.there has to be more to this story than meets the eye

[da@LARGE]

If BJ Penn can get away with hitting a cop, then War Machine should get a slap on the wrist for choking out a drunk.

I'm surprised we didn't hear about this story sooner.

[Brutus]

he'll prolly plead down to a simple battery charge. plus i'm willing to bet that there were extenuating circumstances in this situation. i just dont think war machine runs up to som random and chokes him out then beats him. thats a phil baroni thing i think.

u think war machine will cry if he has to go to jail??

[rivethead]

Originally Posted by dbader08

There are 2 sides to every story

and according to the dude that got choked out, koppenhaver just walked up to him and choked him out and then assaulted him...randomly..

now i seriously doubt that is how it went down...lol

If another guy punched him while he was being held/choked, that is the guy who should do the time. I can't think of a bigger pussy move than piling in on one guy.



It's really too bad, I thought Jon was an exceptionally classy guy on the show. That upper decker really added a lot to MMA.

rh

[Unreal]

Well at least he's not gonna get fucked up in jail

[dbader08]

Originally Posted by rivethead

If another guy punched him while he was being held/choked, that is the guy who should do the time. I can't think of a bigger pussy move than piling in on one guy.



It's really too bad, I thought Jon was an exceptionally classy guy on the show. That upper decker really added a lot to MMA.

rh

He's fucked up in the head that's for sure.