Long Island's own ready for fight
(Long Island, NY., August 2, 2016) – Long Island will travel to Atlantic City on Saturday, August 6, as one of Long Island’s most promising professional mixed martial arts fighters continues his quest to climb the proverbial MMA ladder.
Rocky Point’s James Jenkins will fight at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa on the Cage of Fury Championships (CFFC) 60 card. We sat down with Jenkins to discuss his upcoming fight and his life as a professional MMA fighter.
A top MMA regional promotion, CFFC has been known to launch the careers of some of the best MMA fighters in the world. The late Kimbo Slice started his professional career on November 10, 2007 at CFFC 5, while other known fighters such as Long Island’s (Uniondale) Aljamain Sterling propelled his journey to the UFC through CFFC. Several other well-known fighters have begun their careers there as well. George Sullivan, Paul Felder, Jimmie Rivera have all made their way through the ranks of the New Jersey based promotion.
For Jenkins, he will be making his debut at Cage of Fury Fighting Championships with an already impressive resume. For him, his story is interesting and motivating, as he writes another chapter of his book. Who knows what the ending will read like, but for now, each page is as appealing as ever.
James Jenkins, who was born in Medford and moved to Rocky Point in the 10th grade, was unfamiliar with the sport of mixed martial arts until his first day at Rocky Point High School. He began wrestling there and never looked back on the sport.
The 30-year-old parlayed his success as a wrestler to SUNY Cortland, a Division III school in upstate New York. Jenkins fondly remembers the first day he stepped into a MMA gym. “Up the road in Sound Beach, I was thinking I’m tough, I think I’ll go there,” Jenkins said of his first taste of the full MMA experience. “It was a lot harder than I expected, I threw up the first class I went to and I just stuck with that and kept going there and that was getting my foot in the door.” It wasn’t easy for Jenkins as he recalls. “I found out too, I was no-where as tough as I thought I was. I didn’t know how to throw a punch or take a punch, I didn’t really know how to do anything but wrestle.”
A veteran of the ROC (Ring of Combat), and a former Ring of Combat featherweight champion, Jenkins has now been fighting professionally since 2010. Jenkins reflected on his time in the ROC.
“I had a great time fighting in the Ring of Combat, it was the only show I really fought on other than the doing the Ultimate Fighter,” Jenkins said. “This will be different for me, fighting for a different organization," he mentioned. As for winning the belt, Jenkins with a smile on his face remembered the time like it was yesterday. “Winning the belt was a great feeling. Whoever you are, you want to rise to the top and get to that spot,” he recalled. “Seeing the other guys like (Chris) Weidman before me getting belts out of the ROC, that was the way to go to eventually get to the UFC.”
After winning the belt and compiling an 8-1 professional record (all in the ROC), Jenkins went on to appear on the popular show, “The Ultimate Fighter” season 22 to further advance his chances of reaching the UFC.
Jenkins recalled his time on the show and being in the house, having been coached by UFC veteran Urijah Faber, while training with former UFC bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw and up-and-coming star, Cody “No Love” Garbrandt.
“That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of,” Jenkins said. “The training aspect couldn’t be better to get into an environment like that. No more job for a little while, you write down what you want for food, and the food is there the next day. You are pretty much just concentrating on training and eating right and there is no stress from the outside world.”
Living in Vegas for the short few months had its perks, too, Jenkins mentioned. “Getting to roll with Faber, Cody “No Love”, and Dillashaw was really cool. I made some friends too and there are some guys I still talk to. I miss it, this time last year I was sitting in a pool in Vegas.”
Now it’s back into the Octagon and on Saturday, August 6, Jenkins will try to improve his already impressive record and continue his three-fight winning streak. A hard worker, Jenkins is taking this fight and his training real seriously.
“A typical day for me is that I got a 9-5 job, I work Monday through Friday,” said Jenkins. " I get up, go to work, drive out from Medford to (Ray) Longo’s gym or (Matt) Serra’s gym in Levittown and I train from 6-9pm. I get home by 10, eat dinner, wake up the next day, and do the same thing. But so far, so good, everything is shaping up nicely.”
Fighting out of Serra-Longo Fight Team in the featherweight division, Jenkins isn’t worried about fighting professionally for the first time since 2014. His time on the “Ultimate Fighter" show wasn’t much different as he squared off against some of the best 145 pound fighters in the country. “‘It was the same way, it might have been a smaller circuit, but once you get in there and start throwing your combinations, it all blends away and once you get hit, it all kind of goes away."
He now takes on Jacob Bohn (4-2) in his next fight. A relatively unknown fighter from the CFFC, Bohn doesn’t seem to scare Jenkins in the least. “I watched a little film on him and I am not going too crazy about it,” said Jenkins. “I watched some film from 2014 and you have to expect for him to have improved since then. He is tall and long, but I’m not too worried. I’m more concentrating on doing what I want to do and that is dictating the fight. I work with world class fighters so there is nothing that I haven’t already seen.”
Jenkins isn’t shy about the way he fights. “I’m a bull in a China shop. I was never slick at anything. My fight style is that I’m a forward guy. I’m pretty heavy handed. Maybe sometimes I fight a little too emotional. I work with my boxing coach and I’m working on pulling some of that in. I don’t like boring fights, I like to put on a show,” Jenkins explained. Jenkins then went on to discuss his goals in the near future as he embarks on his next journey.
“I don’t want to be a guy who chases fighting for the next 10 years and has nothing to show for it," he said. “I want to go out there in the near future and put on a good win and win this. If I have to fight a good guy on another circuit to get me into the UFC, I will. I want to be the type of fighter who puts on a good show and a fighter that people want to see.”
In asking Jenkins to describe himself in one word, it didn’t take too long.
“Tough! I don’t go away. I don’t get scared easily. Anyone who has worked with me at my gym can attest to that. I give it 100%," said Jenkins.
Jenkins is scheduled to fight Bohn in the prelims on Saturday, August 6 on CFFC60. Just another chapter to be added to his already inspiring MMA career.
To see full interview, please go to the MMA Long Island Magazine Video Center and click on Jenkins, or CLICK HERE.
MMA Long Island Magazine is published by MMA New York Media Corporation. For more information please visit www.mmalongislandmagazine.com or call (516) 318-2418.
Photo credit: cffc.tv
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