Ian Heinisch
At 19 years old, Heinisch began dealing ecstasy in large quantities in Denver. He sold 2,000 pills a week until he was caught by police in a drug sting. Heinisch was bailed out of jail the next day by his mother. But facing four to six years in jail, he fled to Europe.
He bounced around several countries before settling in Tenerife in the Canary Islands. There he worked at a local bar. He slept on the beach for several months and became an alcoholic. Heinisch was then talked into becoming a drug mule. He swallowed bags of cocaine in Columbia and brought them back to Tenerife. Heinisch completed this process around a dozen times in the two years that followed. He was finally caught and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail. Heinisch was released a year early and deported back to the U.S. There, he was re-arrested for his earlier drug bust and sent to Rikers prison in New York.
There he fought an inmate wielding a knife and had a ‘stab on sight’ hit put out on him by a member of the Latino Kings, before luckily being shipped back to Denver, where he was fortunate to eventually be released without serving any more time. Since then, Heinisch has gone on to turn his life around pursuing a career in MMA. He’s compiled a 13-2 record including his current 2-1 run in the UFC.
