Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport that attracts a wide variety of personalities- some good, some bad. However, from time-to-time, we come across a select few anti-social MMA pros that go against everything that martial arts teach us.
Top MMA organisations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator, RIZIN FF, One FC, WSOF and others, have their fair share of anti-social elements and ex-cons. Today we take a look at a few such MMA pros that have been behind bars. Let’s take a brief look at MMA’s infamous ‘Jailbirds’:
#5 Jon ‘War Machine’ Koppenhaver
Jon ‘War Machine’ Koppenhaver is a former UFC and Bellator fighter, with an MMA base of Muay Thai. His most notable victory is over MMA veteran Roger Huerta.
Koppenhaver officially changed his name to War Machine in 2008. In September of 2007, he was found guilty of striking a man and choking him unconscious in a parking-lot brawl, which led to a three-year probation and 30-day community service sentence.
On February 22nd 2008, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery, and was fined and sentenced to probation. Furthermore, he got into a fight at Point Loma bar in early 2010, resulting in a prison sentence in August of the same year.
He was handed a one-year prison sentence for his Point Loma bar scuffle as well as another fight at the Pacific Beach bar. He was imprisoned in San Diego, California’s George Bailey Detention Facility and served time in solitary confinement. It was announced that he’d serve another year at the Facility via his own Twitter account that he still maintained whilst in prison.
Then came the big one; War Machine’s August 8th, 2014 attempted rape and assault on his ex-girlfriend and porn star, Christy Mack and her friend Corey Thomas. Mack suffered 18 broken bones, a broken nose, missing teeth, a fractured rib and a ruptured liver.
Thomas also reportedly suffered injuries in War Machine’s rampage. He is currently serving time High Desert State Prison in Nevada.
Jon ‘War Machine’ Koppenhaver’s assault, on Christy Mack and Corey Thomas, caps off his long and storied list of criminal exploits.
#4 Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben
Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben (22-11) is a former WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) Middleweight (MW) champion, with an MMA base of boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and wrestling.
One of the most notorious steroid-users of his generation, Leben is best known for his antics (urinating on his teammate’s pillow/bed, etc) on the inaugural season of TUF (The Ultimate Fighter), his dyed hair and for getting blown away by Anderson Silva.
Leben is also infamous for his laundry list of run-ins with the law. On April 30th, 2008, he was arrested in Oregon by Clackamas County sheriffs for a DUI charge stemming from a previous incident. He was kept in jail and held without a bond for having previously violated his probation, after which he was sentenced to 35 days in jail.
On October 20th 2010, he was arrested in Honolulu, Hawaii for a suspected DUI after crashing his truck into a wall off of Kapiolani Boulevard. He was released from custody after posting bail. Furthermore, in 2015 Leben was sentenced to 120 days in custody and three years of probation owing to a June break-in at his estranged wife’s house that they previously shared together.
After a one-year stint in jail, Leben has now moved on to the real-estate business.
Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben and his love of drugs, violence and crime have handed him the fourth spot on our list.
#3 Hermes Franca
Hermes Franca (23-16-1) is a former WEC Lightweight (LW) champion and former UFC LW title-challenger; with an MMA base of boxing, BJJ and wrestling. He holds notable wins over MMA veterans namely Nate Diaz, Jamie Varner and Caol Uno.
Franca turned himself in to the Clackamas County authorities in mid-May 2011 and was charged with multiple sexual battery charges. He pled guilty to one count of attempted unlawful penetration and was sentenced to 42 months in a state prison.
In totality, the charges that were proved were one count of attempted unlawful penetration and one count of first-degree sexual abuse.
To make matters worse, all of the aforementioned atrocities, perpetrated by Franca, were committed on a 14-year-old child. Franca served prison time in the States for two years, after which he was released to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In 2014, following his deportation to Brazil, he fought at Extreme Fighter: Nordeste, losing to Marcio Breno via 1st-round knockout. Hermes Franca is a worthless excuse for a human and wherever he is today, let’s hope, the people around him are safe.
#2 ‘Lightning’ Lee Murray
‘Lightning’ Lee Murray (8-2-1-1) is a former MMA fighter, having competed in the UFC and Cage Rage promotions with an MMA base of boxing and wrestling. He is best known for losing his Cage Rage Middleweight Championship matchup against Anderson Silva in London, England.
His MMA career was cut short after being stabbed in a September 28th, 2005 brawl at British glamour model Lauren Pope’s party that resulted in a punctured lung and a severed artery. He miraculously survived after being resuscitated by the doctors not once but four times while being operated upon.
Lee Brahim Murray-Lamrani is a lifelong criminal, being involved in the UK drug-trafficking scene alongside his close friend Paul ‘The Enforcer’ Allen and fellow-drug dealer-turned MMA fighter, Mark ‘The Beast’ Epstein.
Popularly referred to as, the ‘Buttmarsh boys’, Murray, Allen and Epstein took over the local drug trading scene, by wiping out the Nigerian drug-peddling cartels from their turf.
December of 1999 marked a period of transition in his life as he started training in pursuit of a serious career in the sport of MMA, training his boxing with the Bower brothers in England. Co-incidentally the Bower brothers were planning a series of robberies, with the biggest being a brazen raid on a high-security warehouse at Gatwick airport.
However, the Scotland Yard found out about their plans, arresting the three Bower brothers, whilst Murray got away due to lack of evidence.
This set the stage for the biggest crime of Murray’s life: the ‘Securitas Depot Robbery’. On February 21st, 2006, Murray and his accomplices kidnapped the manager of the Securitas Depot, Colin Dixon, along with his wife and son.
A few other accomplices held 14 staff members of the Depot hostage, having threatened and tied them up. They went on to loot more than $6.5 Million from the Securitas Depot, leaving the hostages unharmed but bound inside the Depot’s money cages. Interpol suspected Murray’s involvement, later revealing that he had escaped from the UK.
On 25th June 2006, the Moroccan police along with Kent police (a territorial law-enforcement authority in the UK), apprehended Murray and a few of his accomplices at a shopping market in the Souissi district of the Morrocan capital Rabat. The rest, as they say, is history. As of today, Lee Murray is serving a 25-year prison sentence in Morocco.
Lee Brahim Murray-Lamrani is one of MMA’s most infamous and dangerous criminals.
#1 Cody East
Cody East (12-3) is a 6’3” behemoth of a man, having been recently signed and immediately cut by the UFC. After racking up an impressive win streak in the regional MMA circuit, East failed miserably in the UFC, going 0-2 with both losses coming by way of KO/TKO.
East no longer fights for the world’s premier MMA promotion. Now that we’ve got the elephant in the room away, let’s take a brief look at the 28 year-old’s long and disturbing list of despicable crimes. He was a State Champion wrestler for Los Lunas high school in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and also a lifelong criminal and nuisance to the peaceful city.
East was charged with ten counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, four counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor and one count of false imprisonment of a minor. In layman’s terms, Cody East was accused of raping an under-aged girl during his high-school wrestling days.
Despite the accounts given by several witnesses, East was later acquitted of the charges as the girl’s family didn’t want to pursue the case.
In 2007, after graduating high school, East was charged with 15 counts of criminal behaviour- four counts of first-degree rape, four counts of second-degree criminal sexual contact of a minor, six counts of third-degree criminal sexual contact and one count of false imprisonment.
Furthermore, disturbing details emerged about his 2007 rape case, revealing that the 4’11” girl was no match for the 6’3” Heayweight athlete; and that East, raped and assaulted the girl several times over the night despite her constant pleas.
Furthermore, in July 2007, at a party hosted at his home, East not only assaulted his own parents but also hip-tossed 2-3 girls aged around 14-15. At yet another party, he broke the ankle of a 17-year-old boy. In December 2008, East was sentenced to three years in prison.
And that’s not all. After several other run-ins with the law, East was most recently arrested in December of 2016 on domestic violence charges. East’s wealthy family background once again let him get off the hook, in spite of his laundry list of anti-social and psychopathic behaviour.
Cody East and his seemingly never-ending crime spree top our list of jail/prison loving MMA vets.
Whether it’s Leben’s penchant for finding trouble or Lee Murray’s Hollywood-movie heist. War Machine and Franca’s disgusting acts or Cody East’s inexplicable rampages. MMA has its fair share of criminals. Keep up with our combat tradition and write in to us, about fighters that you feel could’ve made our list.
Keep training and remember kids- MMA is about skill, will and respect. A true martial artist never voluntarily chooses the path of crime.
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