He’s got some explaining to do

Ken Alexander (Photo provided by Pure Combat)

Kenneth “The Machine” Alexander, a professional mixed martial arts fighter who headlined a free event for Marines Friday night at Camp Pendleton, Calif., has been less than sincere with the media about the details of his military background.

Multiple reports documenting Alexander’s rise in the MMA world (here’s one and here’s another) have suggested the former Marine staff sergeant was a real stud when he served — a sniper with a Special Forces affiliation and multiple combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Um … not exactly, he told Marine Corps Times this week. Acting on a tip from an alert reader, we called “The Machine” two days before his fight at Pendleton, and he acknowledged having never set foot in Iraq, Afghanistan or Africa — only Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan.

Check out the story.

So who’s to blame for the misinformation circulating about Alexander? He told us the media keeps getting his story wrong and that he’s never bothered to “waste my time” correcting the record. Here are his words:

In the fight game, people talk about what they want to talk about and you could tell them the truth ’til you’re blue in the face, but half of them hear what they want to hear anyway. … I know what I did. Those who knew me know what I did, and no one else matters.

Very well, though I suspect more than a few current and former Marines would dispute that logic. But you decide for yourself. Have a look at this TV report, which aired in California just before the Pendleton fight, and tell us what you think.

[HTML1]