Bubba Jenkins didn’t make his Bellator exit on the best of terms.
The once highly touted prospect now has 14 professional mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts on his resume. His record stands at 11-3 with wins over Goiti Yamauchi, the late Jordan Parsons, and Poppies Martinez.
Jenkins couldn’t quite make it to contender status with a loss to LaRue Burley and two finishes at the hands of Georgi Karakhanyan. Jenkins hasn’t competed since Aug. 2016 and he was tired of waiting.
The former All-American was recently granted his release from Bellator. Jenkins spoke to MMAFighting.com and claimed the promotion doesn’t believe in their own philosophy:
“Honestly, I guess they want to portray something they’re not. I ain’t saying they are trying to sabotage me, but I can only assume with the way they’ve been acting, with the characteristics and the questionable ethic calls they’ve been doing through my career — I want to say, maybe they aren’t what they claim to be. Maybe ‘fighter’s first’ isn’t what they should be saying.”
When Bjorn Rebney ran the show, Jenkins was highly regarded for his collegiate background. The featherweight feels the company all but lost faith in him once Scott Coker stepped in.
“Absolutely, it dropped off — it dropped off a cliff as if I was just walking on a street and then an avalanche came by and took the street away. They say don’t all your eggs in one basket, but man, I had a couple of baskets that got crushed. That happened to the point where I was like, okay, I understand I may have been your guy when Bjorn was here and I may not be your guy now. But I just want to know a direction that I’m going in. I know I speak very well, I’m a college graduate, I coach kids, I give back to the community — I have all the little things that would pertain to be a star.”
