Homecoming for Honey Bear: Football star turned MMA fighter returns to Alaska

ANCHORAGE — It took Jake ‘The Honey Bear” Heun less than a minute to get what he came back to Alaska for.

A quick victory.

“There’s not many feelings out there like being able to snatch a body like that, but at the end of the day, it is what it is. The guys trying to take money out of my mouth and I can’t let him do it,” Heun said.

Heun put his money where his mouth was on Wednesday, taking down the much heavier Mina ‘Da Munster’ Faavale in 45 seconds at the Alaska Fighting Championships 144 at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

Heun entered the with his tongue out, screaming and yelling as he got into the ring and beckoning more applause from the fans, many of whom traveled from the Valley to cheer his way into the cage. Once the bell rang, Heun stood at 205 pounds across from his opponent, at 257 pounds. Heun landed a head kick 35 seconds into the fight, sending Faavale to the mat up against the fencing. Heun pounced, landing relentless right hands until the fight was called 10 seconds later.

“I came out here with all intentions of getting a quick knockout and getting on the right path. You can’t fight forever so I’m trying to make a run on this while still can. I’m planning on being active this year. I want to get a lot more wins that look like last night,” Heun said on Thursday.

Heun grew up in Palmer and graduated from Palmer High School, where he was a standout in both football and wrestling. He went on to star in football at San Francisco City College and later played Division I football at the University of Hawaii. Heun, a linebacker turned fullback, even had the chance to suit up in a college bowl game.

Heun has been fighting against bigger athletes in various sports since he was young, and continued that trend into his professional mixed martial arts career.

“It’s kind of always something I figured I would get into just because I never really saw myself having a desk job. Once football kind of played itself out it was kind of an easy transition,” Heun said.

Heun said that the constant demand for a high level of fitness during his days playing college football helped during the transition, as well as the mental aspects of being a fullback. However, Heun notes the vast differences in the sports. Heun has been training in Thailand and taking fights around the world.

“There’s a lot of good bodies around all the time at the end of the day the thing about good training is who you work with, and the nice thing about Thailand is everybody is pretty focused on just training,” Heun said. “It’s just the competition that I love. Every day I get to go and I get to push myself and the idea of sitting at a desk and staring at a computer all day just sounds terrible to me.”

Heun picked up his ‘Honey Bear’ nickname working in the corner for a fighter who had become delirious cutting weight for a fight.

“I was cornering for an old UFC fighter in Vegas. He was cutting weight and he took one of those little bears of honey. He was delirious. He said, oh look, it’s Jake. It still looks like Jake. He’s a honey bear,” Heun said.

And the name stuck.

Heun has been fighting professionally for eight years and had a professional record coming into the fight of 11 wins and eight losses, four of those wins coming by knockout. Last year was not the best year for Heun, suffering a knockout in the Professional Fighting League at Madison Square Garden. After the New York commission would not clear him to fight, he returned to Asia and suffered another close defeat. He started 2019 on the right track with the 45-second knockout of Faavale.

“All of these losses have been (little) things. It’s just a matter of just putting myself in the best situation to win fights and not getting clipped,” Heun said.

Typically, Heun will begin his day running four miles in the morning and alternate training different martial arts disciplines up to three times a day. Sometimes he will train jiu jitsu or kickboxing and follow that up with more mixed martial arts training pulling from multiple different styles. Heun is listed at 205 in the light heavyweight division but has reached the heavyweight division. Heun has entered a number of open weight class fights in Asia, and says he actually prefers fighting larger opponents.

“I actually enjoy fighting the bigger guys. It makes my life a little bit easier because I don’t have to cut weight,” Heun said. “I can be an athletic fat guy in the ring. It actually works out. I enjoy fighting the bigger guys more than fighting guys that are actually my own size.”

Heun planned to establish the tone early in the Wednesday bout against Faavale. He describes himself as a standup fighter, and planned to keep Faavale at a distance, not allowing Faavale to get on top of him or to get into close range.

“I’ve been doing this for like eight years now, I feel like I can do it all. If the fight needs to go to the ground, I’m not bad down there, I grew up wrestling and stuff. So I’d say I’m pretty well rounded but at the end of the day if I can get into a kickboxing match that’s what I want to do,” Heun said.

Even fighting a much larger opponent, Heun made quick work of Faavale and got what he came thousands of miles to get, a quick knockout.

“I don’t get paid by the minute bro, I was trying to get out of there,” Heun said.

Heun fought in Japan, Korea, New York and China last year. The unique factor in Heun’s fight at AFC was in the crowd. A large contingent of Valley fight fans came to watch Heun make quick work of Faavale.

“I was really stoked to see everybody come out from the Valley people I haven’t seen in forever, old wrestling coaches and athletic director and that kind of stuff. So I really just want to thank the people from the Valley for coming out and supporting me,” Heun said.

Heun’s mom Michelle was part of the large group of Valley fans who were at the fight Wednesday.

“It was good and fun to watch, and I loved all of the support,” Michelle Heun said.

Rod Christiansen, who coached Huen in football at Palmer High, said he isn’t surprised to see his former player have this type of success.

“He was a big, strong guy in high school, and he was very aggressive,” Christiansen said.

Heun returns to an MMA scene in Alaska that was different than when he left it. AFC has sparked the growth of the sport, and fight nights are held in other cities around the state as well. During the short time Heun has moved his training to Anchorage Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, he’s noticed the difference.

“There’s a solid group of guys in there. They’ve got a bunch of young up and coming kids and there’s really talent over there,” Heun said. “The thing about Alaska, I always say this whenever I get asked about it, is Alaska is full of super tough people. I really believe that once the skill level up here starts to catch up with how tough everyone is that is from here, there’s going to be guys coming from Alaska that start to make some waves. It’s just a few years off from being a real hot bed of fighting,” Heun said.

Heun has considered broadcasting or becoming a television analyst for MMA after his career is over, but it’s not done yet.

“Who knows maybe I’ll be the next WWE champion,” Heun said.

Heun plans to move to Bali to train and try to get on the next Rizin Fighting Federation card in Japan if he doesn’t pick up any more fights while in the state. Though Alaska is home to Heun, it’s one of the many far corners of the world he’s been able to experience through his fighting.

“That’s one of the big things I really enjoy about fighting. I get to see parts of the world that I probably never would’ve seen without it,” Heun said.

After training days in Thailand, Heun will often walk down to the beach to relax. Though it is how he makes a living, Heun has developed a love for the fight.

“I get to go test myself against some of the toughest guys in the world,” Heun said. “If at the end of the day I get to punch my friends in the face, it’s a good day.”

Though Heun is trained in multiple different disciplines and trains Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand, where Muay Thai is the most popular sports, he does not compare himself to any other fighter.

“I think fighting is a lot like art. Everybody’s kind of got their own style and you’ve got to go with what works for you,” Heun said.

“You don’t want to try and be somebody else, you’ve got to kind of express yourself through your violence.”