Issue 159

October 2017

Prison can break a man, but it made this 185lb prospect.

Spending 15 minutes in the cage with a middleweight trying to submit you or knock you out is nothing compared to the horrors Ian Heinisch has experienced.

His opponents have never had to endure anything like he did during more than two years locked up in the Canary Islands, or the terror of New York’s Rikers Island. Now he’s a free man having survived those ordeals, and is rising towards the top in MMA, powered by an unwavering will to win.

“The mental toughness is ingrained in me,” he tells FO. “I’d say I have callouses in my brain from all the pain and suffering, and that’s where you really find strength. I’d say that helps in the cage, but mental toughness is one of the most important times before your fight. The week leading up to it, the weeks before, the day of the fight – that is the biggest day. You wonder are you mentally prepared for it? Are you questioning yourself?”

Heinisch, clearly, is not. He’s on a 14-0 run dating back to his amateur days and is now 8-0 as a professional. And, of course, he wouldn’t get far just on grit and determination. His experiences forced him to clear his mind, focus on the things he wanted to achieve and devote himself to becoming the best fighter in the world A background in grappling, combined with daily training sessions with a Spanish K-1 champion in the clink have given ‘The Hurricane’ a full complement of MMA abilities. He’d looked impressive putting them to work on the regional scene and in the WSOF, before embarking on the most impressive performance of his career. At Legacy Fighting Alliance 10 in Pueblo, Colorado, he submitted Brazilian Lucas Rota with an innovative scarf-hold armlock to complete a dominant performance in every aspect of fighting. He’s got the striking power and skill to back up great grappling.

“I take the path of least resistance,” he adds. “I exploit their weaknesses. It’s kind of like a Georges St-Pierre style: I’m up and down, touching your legs, hitting you with an uppercut and I’m shooting on you. That’s my style.

“I feel I’m working my way into my prime, and my style is really starting to come together and make sense in my head,” he adds. “Every fight, I’m learning things.

I know if I did lose, I would learn a lot more. I’m still learning tons of things and every fight, I’m making huge leaps and bounds. I’m coming out a different fighter in every bout – people don’t know what to expect.”

His skills have already caught the attention of the UFC. He was due to compete on The Ultimate Fighter before paperwork issues got in the way, and has already been called up as a late replacement, but that fell through as well. Heinisch is set to fight in the LFA cage again soon, but the third time the UFC calls is likely to be a charm, with momentum and an undeniable résumé making it unfathomable that we won’t see this tough, dangerous middleweight in the Octagon soon.

“I’m getting better every day,” he says. “By the end of this year, unless a better opportunity arises, I will be in the UFC. Mark my words on that.”