Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
UFC Fighter Caught Smuggling, Locked Up Abroad, & Fighting for His Life | Ian Heinisch
Tue, 06 May 2025
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Chapter 1: What led Ian Heinisch to a life of crime?
Colombia, Venezuela, Aruba. We would package the kilos. We'd swallow them. Turning $900 into $100,000. They jumped on us. Secret police. I get thrown in general population. God started to call on me and put this dream in my heart. He's like, you're going to get out of here and be a UFC champ. Proclaim my name to the world. Came up in a middle to upper class.
Nothing like a crazy bad childhood like most people would think when you have a crazy story, you know? Um, some people go through some crazy adversity, but I just, man, got in trouble all the time. I had this crazy energy inside of me. And at a very young age, I started to get kicked out of class, just little stuff. My parents didn't know what to do.
So they took me to little stuff like fights or, or just fights, ditching class. And just like hyper, like I was just messing with people all the time, just like this crazy. So they took me to the doctor and the doctor said, you know, he's got ADD, ADHD, right? Put them on pills.
And I come from a long line of addiction, like my dad, my uncles, my cousins, like all struggle with addiction, alcoholism, like generational curses. So instantly hooked, lost my relationship with God and just went all in on partying, man. And still was a very successful wrestler, a couple of times state champ, national champ, all American.
You know, I was doing my thing in wrestling and had a very bright future. I was I remember I'd be cheating off these like super smart girls and then they would call my name and they'd be all mad at me. And I'd get a letter from like Stanford, handwritten letter. We want to give you a full ride scholarship.
And they are just like losing their mind because, you know, wrestling was getting me some big opportunities, but I blew it. I got expelled my senior year. A year before that, I was driving home from a party before a wrestling tournament, drank a couple bottles of Southern Comfort, fell asleep behind the wheel, drove off the road, missed a sign by inches and a telephone post by a couple feet.
And that was one of many times that God had spared my life. I woke up with the tires still spinning, drove off the bank in the snow.
I mean, is this like you got a DUI?
I just took off running.
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Chapter 2: How did addiction influence Ian's early life?
Which is crazy because I was all hyped up on Adderall. Right. Good old big pharma. So I'm in this jail cell freaking out, coming down with these withdrawals. And I remember it was when Cain Velasquez fought Brock Lesnar and they gave me my Xanax because they have to if you freak out. And then the girl came to the court on Monday, posted $5,000 cash to bail me out. She bails me out.
Takes me to her house. I'm like, stop real quick. I want to take some shots of tequila. I'm sad, right? I got this, this life that I thought I built this good job. And now I know I'm going to get deported eventually because I'm working illegally. I tried to sneak across the border, all the deal. And she ended up talking to the girl that I originally moved out there with. And, uh,
She said that I was like hooking up with her when I was living with her.
So she was really mad So it's just like whole drama So when I was all messed up the girl's like yeah I was hooking up with my ex-husband's wife or our ex-husband's friend while you were locked up And I was like what because I came home and I had a big bag of ecstasy and it was gone And she's like, yeah, we took him So I like snapped tore up the house just like drunk and raging And anyways just passed out She takes her kids to school the next day and
Her kids are freaked out because obviously I was just being wild. She comes back, jumps full mount and just starts teeing off on me. Boom, boom, boom. And the only thing I remember, because if you've ever taken a bunch of Xanax and drinking tequila and all those things, you're like, you're zonked for like a day. And I just remember whatever was happening to me, I wanted to stop.
And I woke up holding her down. And I finally could open my eyes. And I was like, she's like, you're crazy. So I grab her most expensive bottle of wine and just take off towards the beach. And the cops pull up, cut me off. I roll over the hood. Apparently, I came at the cops. Which, if it was America, I would have got shot. And they beat me up, man. Swollen black eye.
I remember just kicking, you think you Americans can come here and do this? Wham! Wham! I mean, they let me have it. I got to the court, or I got back to the jail. They come and interview me, and I'm totally messed up. Dude, I make up this crazy story. Like... Because I didn't want to sell out my boss because he was paying me under the table. So I was like, I was a cage fighter.
I met her on the internet. And I made this crazy story up. And I was like, just talking belligerent. I was like, whoever ratted me out, I'm going to sneak back across the border and get him and put him in the ocean. front page of the Vancouver Sun boom they printed out and It's just me talking crazy.
I'm still a little bit out of it a day later They put me in front of a judge the lawyers like don't say anything. I'm like stand right up your honor I would like to speak and he's just like oh my gosh, and I was like I know I am in trouble today, but I'm only like this when I drink and do Xanax and I will not do it anymore. And she's like, Mr. Heinish, you are a threat to Canadian society.
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Chapter 3: What were the consequences of Ian's reckless behavior?
Okay.
But, I mean, it was probably my first offense.
Yeah, but at that age, it seems like forever, right?
And the thing was, I couldn't do probation. I wouldn't do probation, and I wouldn't do jail. So there was really no other option.
It sounds very familiar. Me? Yeah.
I'm running. Because I had all these little charges. I had a DUI, which was a different incident. I fell asleep. I actually pulled over and went to sleep, which I thought was responsible. I should have held the keys. I found that out. So I got a DUI, and I had some drug charges, and I just keep failing drug tests. And it finally came to the point where I went to the judge.
brought in a national champ trophy, set it on the podium. And I was like, I just need to go to jail because I can't do probation. And she gave me 10 days. She cut me, and I was like, I want to do my wrestling career. I just can't do it. I can't afford it. I can't drive up here. Probation is a revolving door.
Probation will make you hooked on the system forever, especially if you can't go straight edge.
It will if you're unwilling to stop doing drugs and get alcohol. Some people successfully go through probation.
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Chapter 4: How did Ian get involved in drug trafficking?
Yeah, because what's the worst they can do? Take us to the hospital? Or, I mean, x-ray us?
Yeah.
So a couple trips go by. We make this trip to Aruba, right? And we usually never –
fly directly back to the canary islands it's always the mainland of spain madrid barcelona then tenerife but this time we couldn't find the we couldn't find the the work in uh aruba which we usually find it's a little more expensive there but it's like it's not good to keep going to colombia you know you want to mix up the location and uh and we went to venezuela that was pretty crazy too and i passed the x-ray again in venezuela
So now we're in Aruba and we finally find the work. We keep extending our stay, which could have brought up some red flags, right? We were there two weeks and we moved it to another two weeks and another two weeks. And we were like, all right, we got to go if we don't find it. We found it. And we wrapped this stuff up and we swallow in it. We go to Venezuela directly to Spain this time.
Mm hmm.
And we land in the Canary Islands. And me and this guy, we act like we don't know each other. Because it's not a good look if me and him are like, he's older Colombian gentleman and I'm white boy. So we walked through. They see me. I'm the only white boy on the flight. Hey, you, come in the office. And this has happened one other time. They question me. What are you doing here?
Why do you keep coming back here? I was like, I have a girlfriend. And they're like, uh... And I pull out my wallet. No credit cards, just cash. Just like 5K cash or something. And they're like, eh, that's sketch. And I was like, I got sent Western Unions. And they're like... Rich people don't do that. So my girlfriend comes in, verifies that she's with me. And then they let us go.
And we walked down to the car. And the Colombian made a bad move. He should have hopped on a taxi and got out of there. He waited for us in the car garage. Right when we met up, boom, they jumped on us. Secret police. I'm just running my mouth to them. I'm like, I'm a tourist here. I spent money here. This is my girlfriend. She's crying her eyes out because she's involved in this now.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Ian face while smuggling drugs?
And I'm like, what is this place? Like, all this weird stuff. Like, a toothbrush and, like, five condoms of lube. But I didn't know they could do these, like, conjugal visits. So I'm like... I was like, bro, what is this place? I was like, this is... I was like... And then right when we walked in, they're all like, esaculo. Like, look at that ass. Look at that ass.
Like, so, like... And they separated me. So I was like... I was, like, ready to go, bro. But actually... A lot of them were more talk, bark than bite. And I just went in there, man, stayed to myself. And it was crazy, though. About four months in, they're like, hey, we're going to test you for tuberculosis. And we're going in there, and they're sticking this needle.
And if it blows up, you have tuberculosis. And I'm seeing these Moroccan dudes that I've been hanging out with. They're blowing up. I'm like, you just threw me in a holding with all these people with tuberculosis. Because half of them are from Africa.
Yeah.
And I was like, this is crazy. So I had to choose in there. There was a way I could continue to do drugs. There was all these pills they'd give you. Or I was like, dude, I have to change my life, right? I started to sober up and come to this realization. I had this epiphany. I was like, dude, I'm not meant to be here.
Like I woke up in the middle of the night, looked at myself in the mirror and like screamed, scared the death out of my roommate. I was like, I'm done living this life. Like it was like a pinnacle moment. So I started training. I went up to the wrestling program. And it takes three months to get in. I showed them my ears. They let me in day one. I was like, let's go. So I started wrestling.
Fell in love with wrestling again. They had a kickboxing program. Started doing that. And I was just like, I started going to church. God started to call on me and put this dream in my heart. He's like, you're going to be out. He's like, you're going to get out of here and be a UFC champ. Proclaim my name to the world. And I was like, let's go.
So every day my goal was to train my mind, body, and spirit. I had never read a book in my life. All I would do is read books. read the Bible, train, and learn Spanish, and go to church. It was like training camp had begun. There was a really good kickboxer in there. He would beat me up in kickboxing. I'd beat him up in wrestling. I was like, dude, let's help each other. Let's do it.
We started training. He got released, and the next day, a Muay Thai fighter came in. I beat the team that came in from the streets, a professional team, Lucha Canaria, which I have a picture of. They put me in the newspaper and I gave them this crazy story. I was like, I've done jujitsu, I've done wrestling, but I love nothing more than Lucha Canaria.
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