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Fat Bear Week bracket is set: meet the heavyweights, underdogs and defending champ in this year's tournament, tell me about this news in (https://www.foxnews.com/outkick/fat-bear-week-bracket-set-meet-heavyweights-underdogs-defending-champ-tournament)

20-09-2026

The article highlights the official bracket release for the annual Fat Bear Week competition at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve. The single-elimination tournament celebrates the remarkable weight-gain transformations brown bears undergo to prepare for winter hibernation, allowing the public to vote online for the bear that has packed on the most pounds.

Here are the primary highlights and key competitors featured in the report:

The Defending Champion

Bear 32 (“Chunk”): The reigning champion is back to defend his title. Despite a broken jaw in 2025 that left him with a visible scar and protruding canine tooth, Chunk proved his appetite remained intact. After spending most of the summer away from Brooks River, he returned in September with a massive belly ready for competition.

Key Matchups and Heavyweights

Bear 164 (“Bucky”) vs. Chunk: Bucky is a 9-year-old rising star who has grown significantly and developed a clever fishing techniquepositioning himself right in the waterfall’s deepest plunge pool to snatch jumping or falling salmon. Because male bears prime between ages 12 and 20, he is already a formidable challenger and faces Chunk in a high-stakes opening round.
Bear 151 (“Walker”) vs. Bear 903 (“Gully”): Walker is an experienced, older veteran whose once-easygoing temperament has shifted to being more competitive and defensive as younger bears challenge his status in the river hierarchy. He takes on Gully in another veteran-versus-youngster clash.

The Underdog / Cinderella Story

Bear 610: A first-time tournament competitor who overcame an early separation from her mother and past injury scars. This season, she has taken on the extra challenge of nursing and protecting two cubs while still managing to build up substantial fat reserves of her own. She opens against Bear 89 (“Backpack”).

Tournament Schedule