Jake Heun
The 30-year-old MMA veteran has joined the new Professional Fighters League, which kicks off an 11-event promotion Thursday in New York City that will award each of the six weight-class champs $1 million on New Year’s Eve.
Heun, of Palmer High fame, is one of 12 fighters in the heavyweight division and will fight Alex Nicholson in Week 1 at Madison Square Garden.
The Heun/Nicholson fight is part of the main card that will be televised on the NBS Sports Network.
The PFL features six weight classes and 72 fighters who will compete in a seven-week regular season with a points system used to settle playoff berths. Three weeks of playoffs will determine who fights championship week.
Future cards in the regular season will be held in other cities like Chicago, Illinois; Washington D.C., Uniondale, New York; and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Heun owns an 11-6 record since turning pro in 2011 after wrapping up a college football career at the University of Hawaii.
He is 6-3 in his last nine fights, most recently last summer when he beat Korean legend Mu Bae Choi by unanimous decision at RFC 41 in Wonju, South Korea.