Despite loss of magic in MMA, War Machine still wants to smash Avena in Bellator

A year and a half after signing for a second go-’round, War Machine finally is ready for his Bellator MMA debut.

War Machine (12-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC) had a very common reason to have his debut delayed, and he had a very War Machine-type reason, too. A recent knee pair of injuries pushed back his time table this time. But only after being released from a second long-term jail sentence.

The fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, now legally War Machine, meets Blas Avena (8-6 MMA, 1-0 BFC) on Wednesday in a welterweight bout at Bellator 96. And this time around, War Machine says staying out of trouble is a lot easier.

Bellator 96, which opens the promotion’s “Summer Series” slate, takes place at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

“I have really bad luck throughout my life, and it got to a point where I started thinking that it might have been past-life karma or something like that,” War Machine told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “This most recent time I got locked up, my grandma died while I was in there. Then two weeks after I got out, I tore my ACL. I really thought I was cursed. It just doesn’t make sense for so much bad s–t to happen to one person.”

How bad did it get for War Machine? He went to a witch doctor – who, of course, told him he was cursed.

“He was doing voodoo on me and taking a whole bunch of money from me, but I don’t know if it worked or not,” he said.

Bellator took a chance on War Machine in December 2011, signing the former “TUF 6? contestant after a win over UFC vet Roger Huerta. That win came not long after wrapping his first jail sentence in July 2011.

But in February 2012, War Machine found out he’d be going back behind bars for a previous incident. “I just felt helpless,” he said. “It was just a horrible feeling because I had just gotten out of jail and I had no idea there was even a chance of that happening. I couldn’t believe it. I was in total shock.”

That cursed feeling continued when he got out of jail. While training for a fight against Paul Daley that fans had voted to see at the start of Bellator’s first season on Spike TV, Koppenhaver broke his leg and tore his ACL.

“Getting released from prison just released a lot of anxiety and emotions that I had been trying to tuck away,” War Machine said. “Getting released isn’t always as great as you might think it is. For the first couple weeks, I was suicidal. Everything was just so overwhelming at first. Trying to get back in shape wasn’t easy at first, either. Of course, all of my teammates were beating me up and my body was just really weak from all the malnourishment of being in prison. I mean, three weeks into my training and I tore my ACL? I know that was because I was malnourished. I’ve never been seriously injured like that before.”

But now back to full health, War Machine is focused on making his Bellator debut – and perhaps proving to some detractors that he’s not the bad guy many people seem to think he is thanks to the jail stints, the side career dabbling in the adult film industry, the first Bellator signing that ended when he made some MySpace comments about President Obama.

“I don’t do much now,” he said. “All I do is train two or three times a day and teach jiu-jitsu class. I don’t do a whole lot. I can’t really risk going out and any possibility of conflict. I just kind of go to the gym and go home.

“People that really know the story of why I got locked up know I didn’t do anything that bad. I’m not like a career criminal. I got into a few fights. I think there are a lot of people that are close to me that know me that want to see me come back and pull this off.”

War Machine also believes Avena may be in for a rough night in Oklahoma.

And if he is, it won’t necessarily be because War Machine has some lofty goal of being a world champion for the love of the sport.

“I’m ready to get back out there and perform on the big stage here with Bellator,” he said. “I want to go out there and smash this guy live on Spike TV and let everyone know I’m back. I want to use this fight to get everyone excited about seeing me in the next Bellator welterweight tournament. I’m ready to do some good things.

“The sport has lost a lot of it’s magic for me. I mean, do I want to have the belt? Of course I do. I would love to be able to add a world title to my record and I’d love to be able to beat up Ben Askren. But honestly dude, I’ve been in this sport so long and my life has been so hectic, all I care about is making some money and eventually opening my own gym. The magic is gone, man. I do this. I fight just to survive. I fight because I’m good at it and I can make money doing it. That’s it.

For the latest on Bellator 96, including the night’s full fight card, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.