RIZIN, WSOF vet Jake Heun gets seven year sentence for drug trafficking

American MMA fighter Jake Heun, 33, was sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison by a court in Melbourne, Australia last week.…

By: Tim Bissell | 2 years ago
RIZIN, WSOF vet Jake Heun gets seven year sentence for drug trafficking
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

American MMA fighter Jake Heun, 33, was sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison by a court in Melbourne, Australia last week. That sentence stems from charges of importing cocaine and methamphetamine into the country (per Knockdown News).

The Daily Mail reports that police believe Heun was part of an international drug syndicate that operated out of Thailand.

Heun was arrested after a package of methamphetamine labelled “bath gel and cologne” broke open during a flight from France, alerting Border Force agents. The package was addressed to Heun’s apartment.

A search of Heun’s phone reportedly turned up images of cocaine. It was alleged that Heun mailed out between 35 and 40 grams of cocaine last year before he was arrested.

Heun’s sentence includes time served. So he will likely spend three years in jail before being eligible for parole. It is likely that Heun will be deported from Australia on his release.

Heun began fighting in 2011. In 2012 he appeared on The Ultimate Fighter Season 17, losing in the elimination round of the competition. Heun appeared on TUF 19 a year later, again falling at the elimination stages.

Heun then fought a number of times for WSOF, facing both Vinny Magalhaes and Smealinho Rama. In 2018 he signed for the PFL during that outfit’s inaugural season. With the PFL Heun competed in their heavyweight tournament bracket, but lost in the first round.

In 2018 Heun also debuted in RIZIN, losing to rising UFC talent Jiri Prochazka via TKO. Heun is currently on a three fight winning streak with RIZIN after wins over Roque Martinez, Vitaly Shemetov and Satoshi Ishii.

Heun’s last fight, versus Ishii, happened at RIZIN 20 in December 2019.

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About the author
Tim Bissell
Tim Bissell

Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. Among Tim's specialties are the intersections between crime and combat sports. Tim has also covered head trauma, concussions and CTE in great detail.

Tim is also BE's lead (only) sumo reporter. He blogs about that sport here and on his own substack, Sumo Stomp!

Email me at tim@bloodyelbow.com. Nice messages will get a response.

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