Jack Jenkins breaks legs with all the regularity of a Mafia tough.
Which is some claim, right?
Yet still, this is the gift of Australia’s newest UFC hope.
A 29-year-old featherweight boasting not only Generation Next hype, or a run of national title defences, but a low kick so terrifyingly brutal it cracks fibulas into pieces.
In his past four fights, for example, Jenkins has broken the legs of three rivals.
Yes, three.
In one of those, served up a fractured jaw too.
But more on that soon enough.
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First, we want to focus on how this Bacchus Marsh kickboxer – a fella who, not so long ago, was pouring beers at his local to pay the rent – now owns arguably the nation’s most weaponised feet.
Like in his championship bout against Jason Petropoulos last December.
When, on his way to a second round stoppage, Jenkins not only blasted one of those signature leg kicks, but then immediately pointed to the reddened welt on his rival.
“I just broke your leg,” Jenkins recalls saying.
“Really?” Petropoulos replied.
“Yeah, mate,” the champ continued. “And I’m going to keep kicking it.”
Roughly 15 years since he first walked into a Melbourne kickboxing gym, Jenkins is now on the cusp of fighting his way into the UFC via those hyped leg kicks – and Dana White’s Contender Series.
Early on Wednesday (AEST), the rising MMA talent will throw down in Las Vegas against Ecuadorian fighter Freddy Emiliano Linares.
A rival who, while dubbed ‘The Predator’, and boasting an impressive 9-1 record, is still up against an Aussie whose own run of victims is more impressive again.
In his past four title fights, Jenkins reveals he has broken the legs of Petropoulos, Jesse Medina and Diego Pereira, the latter of whom also suffered a busted jaw in what was a championship barnburner.
Then in March, Jenkins defended his Eternal strap again against Rod Costa.
Although this time, there was no break.
“But by the finish,” Jenkins shrugs, “you could still see his leg was f***ed”.
And before that?
“Yeah, I broke Diego’s leg,” he says when pushed on the run of wins. “Broke Jason’s leg.
“Broke Jessie’s leg.”
So as for his secret?
“Timing,” Jenkins insists.
That, and some natural talent.
“Some people, they pick up a basketball and shoot well straight away,” the fighter continues. “But for me, and from the moment I first started kickboxing, I could turn my hips and generate a lot of power into low kicks.
“And with that power, I’ve also developed the timing to make it a real weapon.”
Which Jenkins knows can now earn him a UFC contract.
“Because even if they know I’m a big leg kicker, doesn’t matter,” he insists.
“Then, they’re going to change what they do to avoid it.
“And as soon as you get someone reacting to you, rather than worrying about their own game, you’re good. I don’t even have to throw a leg kick and he’s thinking about it.”
Apart from his devastating feet, Jenkins also boasts the type of belief that comes with being on an undefeated run stretching six fights and four years.
Like, say, before his most recent title defence against Costa, where a certain betting agency opened with the champ as an underdog.
“So I messaged them,” he says.
“Told them ‘your odds makers have f***ed this up’.
“I then said my mates were going to take them for a ride if the odds weren’t changed.”
So as for what happened?
“Heap of money come in for me,” Jenkins laughs. “Just like I told them it would.
“After a while there was so much money coming for me they suspended betting, and turned off the multi betting.
“Eventually, they messaged me back. Said ‘aah, OK, we’ll let our odds makers know’.”
Which surprises everyone but the man himself.
“Because this moment, I’ve never stopped believing I’d get here,” says the fighter who, in 2018, dropped consecutive fights and more than a couple of drinkers at that local where he worked suggesting it was time to quit.
Maybe get himself a trade.
“But even though it’s been tough at times, I’ve never lost sight of my goal.
“Although this week, it isn’t some grand achievement.
“This is just the start for me.”
