Sherdog.com: That is my job, Paul! Right, well let's move on to talk more about the UK MMA scene. You're a very active fighter who has seemingly fought everyone there is to fight over here. Who has particularly impressed you as an opponent?
Andy Cooper is my number UK fighter/opponent. He's like the worst case of flu you've ever had, once you've even half got the idea that he's beatable, the f___er pops back up and carries on where he left off. Like f___ing malaria.
Sherdog.com: Any tips on who to look out for on the UK scene?
Jenkins: He's dropped from the scene recently, but Peter Tiarks has always been one of my favorite fighters. Paul Taylor, he's one of the nicest guys ever out of the Cage, but in it he's a wrecking machine - I love his style.
This is a f___er of a question because I know I'll leave someone out who deserves full props, so I'm gonna leave it there otherwise it'll sound like an Oscar acceptance speech.
Sherdog.com: Well, let's move on before you start crying then. How has the UK MMA scene changed since your pro debut in 2000?
Jenkins: Mainly the influx and availability of good foreign opponents. As a fighting nation (or four fighting nations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) we're starting to get inquisitive about where we stand and how we'll cope on the world stage.
Also, there's been a ground swell in grass-roots shows, so there are more options for the novice fighter to get blooded before going full-time pro or jumping in where they don't belong yet.
Sherdog.com: How have you changed since then?
Jenkins: I ain't. I'm the Peter Pan of Vale Tudo (laughs). Nah, like anyone who puts the time in, I've got a much more rounded game. I've developed a more complete “style” although it's plain to everyone that I'm still your common or garden-variety striker. But I can start to implement “game plans” into fight preparation to give me a few more tactical options.
Sherdog.com: Good stuff. What's your background in martial arts, anyway?
Jenkins: (Disturbingly, Jenkins starts to sing) The road is looongg...' (laughs)
Since early school times I've been a competitor by nature. And the natural progression in fighting styles is interesting in its own right. I started Judo at the age of 7, and I stuck with that for four years. Then a change in location ended that brief introduction to grappling.
Mid-teens I found out what my c___ was for, so there was no way you were gonna get me in a gym after school (laughs). But around 1990, aged 20, I was working in a sports centre and after my shift there was a Tae Kwon Do class. TKD has its knockers but I think that's more down to the grading structure, its competitive format and its own self-image rather than being a completely flawed combat system in and of itself. Nonetheless, it re-introduced me to training and I found that I had a talent for punching people in the face. I took Welsh and International honors in this style of scrapping.
Although it was basically TKD, my instructors at the time were genuinely hard guys and so mixing it up wasn't a problem in class and as a unit we started making inroads in kickboxing circles. I took Welsh and British titles in that and started looking for other places or fighting styles in which to shine.
Around 1996 I started with regular boxing as well, to compliment my kickboxing training. I always knew I could bang but straight boxing was almost tailor made for me. If you've seen me box you know I'll never be a 'stylish' boxer in the classic sense as long as I've got a hole in my ass, but my knockout rate was high enough to make me a force domestically, and I walked off with the Welsh title in 1999.
But to take you back in time a little, also around 1996 I got hold of a tape called "The Sabaki Challenge" or something. It was a no-headshot with hands, karate-style tournament that allowed full contact kicks and punches with bout winners chosen by either knockdowns/outs or complete domination of the opponent. I liked the look of it — new style, new rules but obviously a format built for the heavy-handed.
I found a Kyokushin-kai club in Cardiff that taught more or less what I wanted to know and was a fighter-orientated club, so I fitted right in. This became my first love, fight-format wise. Mainly because I found it so freakin' hard to do well in it. I met and trained under some of the hardest men and women I've ever had the pleasure to share a gym with. It's a shame they are again so much of a closed shop otherwise they'd be making waves in so many other fighting styles. Their conditioning and fighting spirit is second to none.
Eventually I walked off with British titles and national fight squad placing in this as well.
In terms of a brief list of titles held:
Extreme Brawl: welterweight title.
Cage Rage: middleweight title.
Cage Rage: welterweight title.
Cage Warriors: welterweight title.
Ultimate Combat: British welterweight title.
Tae Kwon Do: Welsh and British Titles. Welsh & British team member.
Kyokushin: British Title. Welsh & British team member.
Boxing: Welsh Champion. Welsh team member.
Kickboxing: Welsh and British Champion. Full contact and low-kick.
Sherdog.com: That's quite a history. So how did you get into MMA?
Jenkins: I run a nightclub door in Cardiff and one of the other faces in town was rumored to be getting involved in this “grappling nonsense,” so I gave him a nod for info and he took me to a club in Penarth in late 2000. I took to it like a priest to shagging and stayed with it ever since. I was getting a bit flat with the other styles and was looking for another outlet for competition, plus I'm always hungry for knowledge and I'd stopped learning, except for a few tweaks, in the striking styles so I was well pleased with this “new” discovery. I took my first semi-pro fight at Grapple & Strike 2. Smitten.
Sherdog.com: How long do you plan to keep fighting?
Jenkins: Until you take no for an answer and let me go, ya pervert! (laughs)
Nah. Same as with the kickboxing. It's enjoyment-based rather than goal- or result-based. As long as I keep getting cheap thrills from rolling around on the floor with sweaty men, I'll keep taking the fights. One day I'll just wake up and say, “nope, no more for me” and go down the pub and start heckling school kids with my whisky breath.
No set time limit, no number of bouts, I'm purely taking every day as it comes.
Sherdog.com: You're easily the most active fighter in the UK with 48-recorded pro fights in our happy Sherdog Fight Finder. What makes you keep fighting, and why so often when other fighters fight so seldom?
Jenkins: There's a few smaller shows and events missing from that list so I've broken the 50-fight mark already. I've well over 200 fights in any given full contact format, so I've been around the block a few times. (laughs)
What keeps me fighting … the f___ing taxman (laughs). I've got bills to pay!
As for why so often, well, because I love it. Simple as that. I've had a few people knock me for fighting so much, mainly in the form of advice about “peaking” for fights, but I fight because I wanna, not for titles or career advancement. Plus, if I ain't got a fight lined up in the near future my training goes out the window and the little guy in my trousers starts running the show.
Sherdog.com: What's coming up next for the Hands?
Jenkins: (Paul) Daley in Cage Rage. (Rich) Crunkilton in WEC. (Henrique) Santana in Angggr Management. (Peter) Angerer at FX3. Plus any other offers that come along.
Sherdog.com: Okay, Paul, we're wrapping up now, but I've never asked this before: where did the nickname come from?
Jenkins: It’s a direct theft! (laughs) Roberto Duran, the junior-middle and middleweight fighter from Panama. He's my kind of fighter (although I'm a Hagler man at heart). (laughs)
Sherdog.com: Any final message for us?
Jenkins: If you're fighter, my pleasure. If you're a female, your pleasure. Cheers!