EXCLUSIVE

The good news for War Machine is that he found love and he's now engaged to 30-year-old Ashley Farrington ... bad news is there's no conjugal visits in the state where he's locked up. Congrats?

Family sources close to Ashley tell TMZ ... War Marchine -- who is serving a life sentence with a possibility of parole when he's 71 -- first got acquainted with Ashley when she started writing to him as his pen pal last summer. We're told the relationship evolved to visits to Ely State Prison. They posed for this pic a few weeks ago.

Feelings developed and, earlier this year, the 36-year-old former UFC star wrote a poem asking for her hand in marriage. She said yes, even though he was sans ring.

War and Ashley can have a wedding ceremony in prison and share a hug, but that's all the physical contact they'll have for a very long time -- Nevada doesn't allow conjugal visits. So much for consummating the marriage.

As we reported ... War was found guilty of sexual assault, coercion, battery by strangulation, kidnapping and several other charges after attacking his ex, porn star Christy Mack.