War Machine Cut From UFC
War Machine, the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, has been given the proverbial boot from the UFC according to a report from MMA Junkie.
Apparently Machine (5-2) refused a fight with a “no name”, which naturally didn’t sit too well with UFC matchmaker Joe Silva. Machine also made some poorly worded remarks about the death of Evan Tanner on his MySpace blog, which ultimately resulted in his untimely release.
Machine on the “no name”:
“He said, ‘They want you to fight Brandon Wolff,’” War Machine said. “I said, ‘Who in the hell if [Brandon] Wolff?’…He has no name, no fans other than the guys in Hawaii, and I thought that if I beat him, then no one is really going to care because I beat someone with no name. And if I lose, everyone is going to say I lost to a guy with no name, so I said [expletive] that. I want to fight someone with a name. I said, ‘Give me Josh Burkman. Give me Dustin Hazelett. Give me someone with a name.”
Machine on Evan Tanner:
“What else is an underpaid fighter supposed to do at the end of his career?” War Machine wrote in the posting. “Cash in his 401K? Collect social security? Start to work some [expletive] job for 10 bucks an hour? (This) [expletive] ain’t boxing, and if you’re not Chuck [Liddell] or Tito Ortiz, you don’t get paid dick.”
“I still believe in my heart it was a suicide,” War Machine said. “Whether or not — maybe he didn’t shoot himself in the head, but I think he went up there maybe with plans not to come back. I just think he was a great fighter, he was a champion, and I guarantee you that he never made [expletive] for money. I guarantee you that he was at the end of his rope…He had nothing, dude. That could be the outcome for a lot of fighters, myself included. I for damn sure guarantee you that if I’m in my 40s and I didn’t make enough money and I don’t have my own gym to support myself or whatever, I’ll probably kill myself too.”
To sum things up, it seems the whole mess went down something like this:
“Joe Silva — he was pretty much on a power trip,” War Machine said. “He was like, ‘I already told you that I already have Wolff for War Machine. I don’t know who he is thinking he’s negotiating with me. You know what? I’m sick of this guy.’ Then he brought up the Evan Tanner thing. ‘He made a dumbass comment on Evan Tanner. He’s not supporting the UFC. You know what? War Machine is cut.’ And they cut me.”
While the man known as War Machine didn’t bring what one would call much needed depth to the welterweight division, I can’t say that I won’t miss his unique brand of entertaining craziness.
Best of luck to you, Machine.
Tags: jon koppenhaver
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Its unfortunate that went down like that. Not taking a fight is just cause for termination but the opinion on Tanner didn’t help things….I agree with the last paragraph.
He’s out his depth in the UFC! Just watch the Yoshida fight totally outclassed!
He would be a good addition to WEC
He needs to grow up.
Needless to say, you should take what your given in the UFC. I dont think you should ever decline a fight based on your opponants name. If you win you move up a tier, if you lose, you shouldnt be there, simple as that. Also its very disrespectful to the other guy who has acheived something to get to the UFC in the first place.
War Machine needs to keep his ego in check, and keeping his mouth shut is a good idea to.
War Machine needs to change his name Ego Machine!
Who the hell does this guy think he is? I hope he don’t think he is on the same level as Lidell or Ortiz. They paid their dues and earned their right to turn down fights. This guy thinks that since he was on TV that he is an instant Big Name fighter. WRONG!! See Ya
I think UFC was right for letting him go for not taking a fight, but you can’t fire some one for what they said on myspace. It’s a free country and you should be able to speak your mind on your off time. Who knows what Evan was thinking going out there like that. I have been watching Evan since the early days and think it sucks he died, but he predicted his own death and it was a senseless way to go. Completely preventable. So hopefully he just got fired for not taking a fight, but I don’t believe they would fire him for speaking his mind on his off time.
War Machine has had a tough past and he is showing it through his words and actions in the present day. Hopefully he grows up and can make a come back some day. I do not believe for a second it went down the way he claims with Silva “cutting” him. Does Silva even have that power?
War Machine may have had a difficult past, his insensitive words regarding. Evan Tanner aside, should War Machine even complain about fighting this “no name” sort of like War Machine is on the upper eschalon of names in MMA (Chuck,Fedor,BJ,GSP,Anderson Silva, Wanderlei, ect) this kid is an average fighter with tattoo’s, if he went to DREAM or WVR he would get destroyed there, its unfortunate that when u are complaining about what u get paid, u turn down a job to make money, dumb move see u at a local show Mr. Machine
he’s right on what he said about the fight if he wins big deal who was he if he loses haha a no body beat u mmmm maybe he comes on this site lol, but FR702 is right moan about money then turn a fight down what a jackass i used to like him but this makes me think hes got a bit to big fo his boots, good luck in elite JON
I think the UFC has to pay there younger no name fighters at least enough so these guys can have a decent career. Paying poverty wages to these guys for what they do is outrageous in my view. Fighting is all a lot of these guys have so give them something to be proud of, afterall the UFC is making big money at there expense. Having said that, war machines comments about killing himself should be taken seriously. The boy needs help in more ways than one.
pmccue,
All I have is my construction job. The power tools I use could injure me out of my career and I barely get by on my pay with nothing to fall back on except crime. I have NO extra money for anything. I SHOULD BE PAID MORE TOO!
KOuch you wouldn’t turn down a job would you? Because $$$ is $$$…. Plus he gets paid to do what he wants to do (fight) most people have to do their jobs and absolutly hate it, atleast his job he “loves”… I have no empathy for him (sympathy for losing his parents yes, not for whinning about $) he was in the UFC, now he will have to go EliteXC, Strikeforce or whomever and fight true “no names”, a bad decision by a really young kid who didn’t see the big picture… All he had to do was fight an “up and comer” which is probably just as talented as Mr. Machine
i feel for d machine, but hey, nobody will give u cash for free. and what is wrong with a regular job?
i agree that they should have a program for the fighters to save for their future once they cannot fight.
FR,
You are absolutely right. I just took a job where I am going to have to work myself to quickly to death to make it worth while and not cost me money. War made a terrible career move. He is in no position to dictate his opponents the way he did. Right now War’s mind should be set on fighting and building a bigger following so he is MAIN CARD worthy. He f-ing blew it for now and may forever be known as the guy who changed his name to War Machine…..not a fighter.
Like i said before, it was a suicide!!! He doesnt need to grow up, he is speaking his mind you **** asses!!! pay is **** and evan killed himself…bottom line
Solo,
Why should the UFC take care of fighters when they retire? Fighters need to be smart enough to properly handle their money. I do not give a F–K if they get paid SHAT! I get paid SHAT and my retirement plan rests on my shoulders. I work for myself and need to be smart enough to put money aside for retiremnt….which I am yet to do…. so I know the insecure feeling these guys feel. The NFL and NBA have an astronomical number(80% or more) of retired players who are broke within 7 years of retitrement. Those athletes make millions and still manage to F up and go broke. Individuals need to be responsible and smart about their finances. No matter what they get paid, they need to put their money in the best place for themselves. It is not the UFCs job to set up retirement plans.
Smitty,
I like pizza.
KOuch, I understand where u are coming from…. And not to say that the Fight Game isn’t extremely difficult with training and paying the bills and everything but a (american/canadian) fighters dream is to be in the UFC and he was already there do u think Chuck has always mad a half a mil per fight no! He made his name worked his was up became the face of the sport and is getting his due pay, when you are 5-2 in your carrer and have never fought for a major championship you take the fights Joe Silva gives you soo you can work your way up and get paid more in the process
Smitty, everyone is able to speak their opionion absolutely but War Machine did so and it cost him his job I don’t think it was a wise decision on his part, nobody forced him to sign HIS contract with the agreed apawn pay scale, now he is with out a job because he didn’t like something that he agreed to and got mouthy that’s the bottom line
i think solo was giving out a good idea… how many of the fighters out there are setting themselves up for future retirement?
while i dont think it should be completely the UFC’s job to ensure the fighters are able to survive after there carrer is over, i do think they should encourage finanical planning, or at least provide a planner to those fighters who dont know where to look… fighters arent always the smartest people, especially when you take blow after blow to the head, it would be easy to over look retirement when you are healthy…
as for you smitty… you are entitled to your opinion, but perhaps you dont need to be so agressive about it… suicide or not Tanner deserves our respect, and until such time as his cause of death has been properly determined i think such rude comments should be kept resepctable at the very least
Bottom line, Smitty is a 12 year old boy who likes to get on here and try to stir things up. Ignore that idiot. Every post he put up is just trying to get under someones skin…
FiXXer, I gathered as much, there are a few of those “people” on here that come to mind but that’s what makes this site different and better than Sh**dog is that when so called “trolls” attempt to get a rise by saying offensive or retar•ded sh!t, and we intellegently respond they really don’t have much to say
thx
Awww the days of SlicKid
There are so many guys working so hard to get to the UFC or get back to the big show that would gladly take whoever Silva sticks in front of them.
I’m tired of hearing about War Machines rough life, we all have our problems but he seems to be his worst enemy.
The funny thing here is he totally ducked Brandon Wolff !!!
Which is a sign the guy has no dick and balls.
I’ve seen Wolff a few times and know Jon would be beating a pounding from him.
I’m sure EliteXC will take him in yippee !!!
I like War Machine. His fight v.s. J-Roc was great.
He seems like he has a lot of issues that he needs to resolve though. Best of luck to him.
FR,
SlickKid…..that guy was something else. Funny, angry and confused. I’m an occasional troll on the SF Giants message board when I am not banned. I use to engage in great baseball conversation but that board has a clan of dickheads that reject every new member that joins or post.
Mike,
The thing is with War is that his “rough” past is the “reason” he is acting out. He has never had proper guidence or so it seems and he had to take care of himself very early on making him carry a selfish personality trait. I am all too familiar with his situation. Not exactly but very close. I am not sure what you’ve been through in life but to say what you said, “we all have problems” is thoughtless, carelss and cruel regarding War. The guy had to try and save his dad’s life when he was 13-15yrs old and then watch his dad die. I found my dad dead at 13yrs old and everything that came along before it has F-ed me up pretty good. I don’t mean to attack you and I am not angry towards you. I just think you should open your mind and try to understand how something tragic can truly change someone and take a toll on their life. Someone always has it worse. True everyone has problems..I use to act out too… a schoolmates dad said “everyone has problems” in a way that basically told me “you’re dad died 2 months ago get over it KOuch.” So I made a pipe bomb to blow him up. For the record I wanted him hurt bad not dead. Unfortunately for me, I made the bomb with a loud mouth friend who got me caught by the police before I did any damage. Don’t worry, I was going through a lot and went to pyscho therapy and all that stuff….I’m a lover not a fighter/bomber now. Rough time in life after years of neglect, physical, mental and emotional abuse….I am good now but just like UFC fighters I wish I made more money.
If you watch the TUF he was in you can see he is just a confused guy. He needs someone to come in and mentor him, cause he has some ability he just needs focus. And who is his agent to say we want a different fight? As a agent you better do your job and tell war “listen you just got choked out in under a minute. You have no right to demand anything. You win against Wolff and ill do what I can to get you a higher profile fight. But 1st you need to prove to everyone that you can be a star”
PS if he thought he was under paid, wait till he fights in some bar in bum f*ck idaho. See how much you get to fight there. Someone save him from himself.
I read a story about Mr. Machine. He seemed like the fact that Wolf had no name recognician was only part of the problem with that fight. His contacts in Hawaii all told him Wolf is a monster so with that in mind, the chances were he’d lose to a no-name and losse badly. he also said he got the headline spot in a small show coming up and said he was surprised by how much money he would be paid.
He made it seem as if he would make more as a headline star in a small show than he would as a bottom of the card fight in a UFC show.
Sh1tty fighter anyway. They should’ve done this a long time ago.
I think this kid is hilareous for changing his name to War Machine… I guess Peace Maker was already taken…
Mr War Machine. How’s that going to look on a name tag at Mickey D’s or the King when he’s asking, Would you like fries with that?
Grow up Mr. War Machine.
He could have chosen Iron Man…
… The Incedible Hulk…
… The Mighty Thor…
… or Dopey…
After his last performance DolfanG he could have chosen Sleepy
Koppenhaver thinks he is big time. Why else would he change his name. Believe me it’s not because of some TNA lawsuit. It wouldn’t hold up in court. He needs to grow up and find a set if he wants to compete. I don’t care about his upbringing, alot of fighters had it rough as kids. Did Jens Pulver act like this douche? Hell no. He used it to motivate himself into one of the best fighters there ever were at his size. If you have ever read Pulvers book you will find out what I’m talking about. Koppenhaver is old news. Bye, bye baby.
It’s unfortunate to see a talented young fighter wrecking his career because of his mouth. Other fighters have certainly said and done some pretty abrasive things. Chris Leben and Tito Ortiz come to mind, both of whom matured out of those kind of antics. The difference is that Chris and Tito never turned down a fight.
Does Koppenhaver deservre his own opinion and have the right to voice it? Yes. Do I hate him for showing that level of disrespect to one of the guys that put UFC on the map? Absolutely! Do I want to see him in the UFC to get his ass kicked by some of the veteran “names” in the sport? You betcha! But if he won’t take fights, then it’s not something we will get to see. Much more his loss than ours.
Exactly MMAFan.
war machine was never good enough for the ufc anyway. he was chosen to be on tuf because he is unbalanced, not because he had potential. they thought he would be entertainment. he has shown at every turn that he is a loser. remember the drama about him choking that guy to sleep on the sidewalk in cali and his comments on his website months ago about killing himself? he is just a NUTJOB…
As a fighter making decisions War let the fans down. I find it unfortunate that many of you are attacking his personal life. NUTJOB? Again….. He tried saving his dad’s life, did not succeed and as a result watched his dad die before his very eyes. Pretty simple to understand how that could F up a young mind.
Yoodles,
“It’s a free country and you should be able to speak your mind on your off time.”
The first amendment only allows protection of free speech in so much as the government cannot punish you for speaking your mind. It does not protect you from the consequences you may otherwise suffer for your speech. If a business owner exercises their right to free speech and makes a racist comment, and therefore lose business, that is a consequence of there action, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have free speech.
In regards to War Machine….dumb move, way to bite the hand that feeds you. Like what’s his name running from Nate Quarry.
Justin,
Well don’t you seem so well qualified for a nobel peace prize. Thanks for the government lesson. WTF was the point of that and why do you consistantly try to challenge my posts? Especially one like this! I am a sensative guy who can relate to War’s past and all I am saying is not to take shots at him in relation to his past. Cold hearted bastard.
This is just like that churchill dweeb that said everyone in 9/11 were “lil eichmans and deserved to die” Can you fire someone for something they said NO! But can you fire someone for not doing there job, hell yes!!! He had one good fight and he’s wants to be a contender, screw that! Hey who knows, that guy could of been like Anderson Silva, a nobody until he beat the crap out of my boy leben and could of been champ.
Kouch,
That wasn’t directed at you, in any way shape or form, unless you changed your name to Yoodles. I’m not criticizing anyone for relating to his past, and I agree no one should take shots at him because of his past. The dumb move comment was more in regards turning down a fight with a no name, not anything he said about Evan Tanner. The free speech thing was about Machine having consequences for his speech. If he said something could put a negative light on his employer, the UFC, they have a right to take action and provide a consequence for that.
B Free,
I don’t know about the state that you live in, but the state of North Carolina is a right to hire right to fire state. In other words an employer can terminate your position at any time, for any reason. You, as the employee do not own your job, the company you work for owns that job, and therefore can put anyone they want in that position, unless you are in a union, then that’s a whole other issue. UFC fighters are not unionized, therefore, depending on contract terms, they are pretty well free to control who does or does not fight in their organization and at what pay grade.
I see a lot of people commenting on how Kopenhaver has had a tough life and all that. Well so have many many other fighters. That is a common trend in all styles of fighting. I’m sure that Koppenhaver will mature out of the need for shooting his mouth off at some point. But now is not the time for him to be making stands like trying to pick his opponents. Reality check… he is 5-2 and just in the last year or so become a “name”. If you are Randy Courture yeah you have some entitlement to dictate who you fight. But a kid with a good (not outstanding) record just becoming known in the sport? He needs to take who he gets, be thankful for being on a card, and if he is good enough get the win and move up the ranks… just like everyone else. I feel bad for Koppenhaver for what he has gone through, he’s seen some things no one should have to. But so have LOTS of other fighters. It’s not a reason to think you are entitled to more than you’ve proven yourself worth.
Justin
Im live in the mile high city which has the same laws as yours. Perhaps i should of refrased my comment but i was late to class lol. War should of been fired for refusing to do his job, hands down. The idiotic comments on his myspace about Tanner should’ve not have been an issue at all or the icing on the cake.
MMAFAN
Its war machine now, not koppenhaver just like chad johnson is now Ocho Cinqo, i guess when you change your name you immediately turn into a moron who cant do their job very well.
Well guys the real reason he was let go was because he refused the fight. The internet thing was just icing on the cake. You can’t tell Joe Silva you don’t want to fight a nobody, when you are a nobody. someone needs to get this boy some therapy quick, he has a lot of demons and doesn’t know how to control them.
B Free,
Agreed, the refusal to fight was enough to fire him. The change your name and turn into a moron comment literally made me laugh. I think the fact that TNA even threatened the lawsuit or whatever was ridiculous, lets face it, their characters change names regularly anyways.
Sorry Justin, I refuse to call him simply war machine. Next thing you know he’ll want to pull a prince and be known as the periodic symbol for moronium. Having a nickname is one thing, and if he went by Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver I think that has a cool ring to it. But even Rampage still goes by Jackson and IceMan didn’t stop being Chuck.
I’d love to see the look on the bank teller’s face when he tries to cash a check made out to War Machine.
Moronium…Very funny!
I wasn’t the one that said you had to call him War Machine, plus the NFL still doesn’t recognize Chad Ocho Cinqo as Chad Johnson’s name. It would be pretty interesting to see that bank tellers face. I bet the face of any bank teller cashing a check for a guy with a grenade tattooed on his neck is interesting in the first place. They’d probably think it was a fake check and arrest him or something with it being made out to War Machine.
Sorry Justin… that was BFree I was responding to.
I think rather than War Machine I’ll refer to him as “The former fighter known as Koppenhaver”
MMAFan
No problem…I figured as much.
Does anyone else find it ironic that a guy that has dropped his name doesn’t want to fight a “no name”?
Justin
The NFL does recognize his chad as ocho cinqo he’s on my football team and is sucking it as much as Tito’s girlfriend does. Maybe War should talk to jenna for a job and change his name to “Sperm Machine!” But he’d probably screw that up too.
B Free,
I thought his jersey still said Johnson, could be wrong, but that’s what I was referring to. He is doing poorly this year though.
I haven’t heard about Mr. Machine’s past. What happened to his father? Was his father Time Machine?… or Flying Machine? I don’t mean to make fun of a guy’s late father, I just can’t get past the whole name change stupidity.
But seriously… what did happen to his father?
This is one heck of a football game! Eagles 37 Cowboys 34 4th quarter…
aw… the officials just screwed this game up… change channels…
What about Pulvers dad pulling a gun on him and almost killing him? Did that make him like Koppenhaver? HELL NO. All this talk about his past is just a COP OUT. Get over it and move on. Life is not fair and I refuse to show sympathy for people who won’t help themselves.
Koppenhaver’s father committed suicide and apparently set it up so that he would find the body by himself when he was about thirteen. At least as I’ve heard the story. No idea how accurate that is.
Absolutely timcat!
I do feel bad for the guy for what he went through. It sucks. But it doesn’t entitle you to be a total dick and expect the world to owe you anything.
Right on MMAFan.
i think the ufc should set up contracts diffrently like a 3 year contract anny number of fights 5000 a fight 25000 a year garunteed
with the avrege fighter fighting 3-4 times a fight then they make normal money and truly no one deserves millions to kick ass
I totally disagree killa. I want to see the absolute best fighters and best athletes competing in MMA. If they are only guaranteed 25 grand a year they are better off working a factory line and won’t be on the pay per views for us to enjoy. If someone is good enough that fans are willing to pay them a million bucks to fight, then they deserve a million bucks.
killa,
1. That’s not enough money for the fighters, if it were 25000 a year, and an additional 5,000 a fight, maybe a little bit better, but then if a guy doesn’t fight, he doesn’t make the company any money, so why pay him.
2. Most people in the UFC make more than 5,000 a fight already.
3. They deserve to get paid whatever the market will bare(not sure if that’s the right spelling for this situation) for them to get paid. Chuck, Randy, Brock, all make BIG money for the UFC, their name on a card translates into thousands of PPV buys, they deserve to get paid accordingly. They are just getting paid based on their value to the company.
He is an aged man and acting like a child. He is no superstar and to refuse a fight based on a name is plain stupid… It adds yet one more professional fight to his record. And where the heck did he pull Evan Tanner committed suicide out his butt from? Is he saying those things because he is feeling old and unstable? It sure sounds that way to me. If you ever rode motorcycles you would know it should be able to written off on taxes as therapy… he was out to have fun I believe….