One of the early veterans of the UFC’s formative years, MMA fighter Joseph Hyungmin Son – better known to diehard MMA fans as Joe Son, was arrested on October 7 in Huntington Beach, CA on charges related to a 1990 Christmas Eve gang rape, according to Sherdog.  This was first reported by the Orange County Register and TMZ.com.

Son, who was already in custody for an unrelated burglary charge, was linked to the 1990 crime when he provided a DNA sample to local authorities following a probation violation; a second assailant to the 1990 charge is still at large.  Son has been charged with the following:

• Five felony counts of forcible rape
• Two felony counts of forcible sodomy
• Two felony counts of sodomy in concert by force
• Seven felony counts of forcible oral copulations
• One felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object by force

Also included are sentencing enhancements for kidnapping to commit sexual assault, personal use of a firearm, use of a firearm during a sex offense and great bodily injury to sexual assault victim.  Should Son be convicted, he is facing a maximum of 275 years to life in prison; he is currently being held on $1 million bail. 

Specifically – if you’re squeamish about sensitive matters such as what has been already posted, then proceed to another story – Son is accused of dragging the victim into the back of a car, pistol-whipping her, threatening her life at gunpoint while he counted the bullets in his gun, raping, sodomizing and forcing her to orally copulate him repeatedly, according to a release provided by the Orange County (CA) District Attorney’s Office.  Son is also accused of sexually penetrating her with his firearm before she was released naked with her pants tied around her eyes.

Son’s brief MMA career started as a loss to Keith Hackney at UFC 4; he also stood in as Kimo Leopoldo’s manager at UFC 3.  After losing in 54 seconds to at PRIDE’s “The Best” series back in 2002, Son retired from MMA, with a record of 0-4.  Son also had a role in the 1997 movie “Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery”, as Random Task.