Rivalries: Bubba Jenkins

Now 35 years old and well over a decade into his mixed martial arts career, Bubba Jenkins has made share of enemies.

The onetime NCAA wrestling champion will continue his quest for a Professional Fighters League title when he takes on Sung Bin Jo in a PFL 4 featherweight showcase on Thursday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. Jenkins steps up to the plate with victories in nine of his past 11 bouts. The former Brave Combat Federation titleholder has compiled a 6-2 record across his eight assignments in the PFL.

As Jenkins puts the finishing touches on his latest training camp and closes in on his forthcoming battle with Jo at 145 pounds, a look at some of the rivalries that have helped chart his course to this point:

Georgi Karakhanyan

The former World Series of Fighting and Tachi Palace Fights champion punched out Jenkins in the first round of their Bellator 160 rematch on Aug. 26, 2016 at the Honda Center in Los Angeles. Karakhanyan—who had choked the two-time NCAA All-American unconscious with a guillotine in January 2015—drew the curtain 53 seconds into Round 1 and improved to 2-0 in their head-to-head series. The Millennia MMA rep caught a front kick to the body from Jenkins inside the first minute, backed him to the fence and unloaded with an overhand right. The 28-year-old Californian fell face first to the mat, defenseless against the attack that followed. Karakhanyan pounced with punches, forcing referee Blake Grice to intervene.

Lance Palmer

Jenkins leaned on a suffocating clinch, timely takedowns and effective ground-and-pound, as he took a unanimous decision from the two-time Professional Fighters League champion in their PFL 1 featherweight showcase on April 23, 2021 at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. All three cageside judges submitted 30-27 scorecards. Palmer appeared to get caught off-guard by the former NCAA wrestling champion’s confidence and persistence. He spent much of the 15-minute match in a state of retreat. Jenkins set the tone with a strong first round, where he executed a takedown and eventually advanced to the Ohio State University graduate’s back, cementing his position with hooks. Palmer saw his best chance at victory come and go in Round 3, as he threatened with a guillotine choke that ultimately went nowhere. The loss was Palmer’s first in more than four years and closed the book on his 11-fight winning streak.

Brendan Loughnane

The Dana White’s Contender Series alum took out Jenkins with punches in the fourth round of their featherweight final at the 2022 PFL Championships on Nov. 25 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York. Loughnane sealed the deal 2:38 into Round 4 and walked away with the $1 million check at 145 pounds. Jenkins, to no one’s surprise, was a tough out. Loughnane tore into his lower leg with kicks, resulting in the formation of a grotesque hematoma before the first round was over. The damage compromised Jenkins’ base and prompted him to switch stances throughout the bout, forcing him out of his comfort zone. Nevertheless, he opened a cut on the bridge of Loughnane’s nose with a consistent jab and connected with an occasional power punch of his own. Despite his grit, the situation became untenable for Jenkins. Loughnane, a polished closer at this stage of his career, hit the accelerator in Round 4 and delivered a thudding right hand that knocked his counterpart off-kilter. Jenkins retreated to the cage, where he was blitzed with punches and one last knee strike that led referee Bryan Miner to call for the stoppage.

Chris Wade

Jenkins made all the necessary adjustments, evened his head-to-head series with the former Ring of Combat champion and laid claim to a unanimous decision in their PFL 1 rematch on April 1, 2023 inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. All three members of the cageside judiciary scored it 30-27. Jenkins—who had wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous verdict against the Long Island, New York, native in August 2021—executed takedowns in all three rounds and paired them with asphyxiating top control. Wade did his best work in the middle stanza, where he threatened with a guillotine after being taken down. However, Jenkins calmly extricated himself from the choke, resumed his efforts and forced his counterpart to concern himself with defending against positional advances and damaging ground-and-pound. Not much changed across the final five minutes, where an increasingly frustrated Wade seemed resigned to his fate.