Brendan Loughnane unfazed by Jenkins’ wrestling threat: “Chris Wade outwrestled Bubba Jenkins very easily and Chris’ striking is better than Bubba’s…”

This past Saturday, Manchester’s own Brendan Loughnane proved once again why he’s one of the top Featherweight fighters in the world, putting on an emphatic performance in his semi-final grudge match against rival, Chris Wade.

The flawless victory saw him take one step closer to the championship, where he will now meet other semi-final victor, Bubba Jenkins, in a battle for the 2022 PFL Featherweight title, as well as the lucrative $1m. Loughnane wasn’t the only one who put on a show, the aforementioned, Jenkins, also got the fans out of their seats at the Copper Box Arena, after he submitted the 2 seed, Ryoji Kudo after just over a minute of round number 1.

Both fighters got to the semi-final of last seasons play-offs, but neither were able to advance to the final. Jenkins was defeated by Wade, and Loughnane was defeated by the man who went onto win the championship, Movlid Khaybulaev.

This time round though, the two top featherweights made the correct adjustments, and are now on the verge of reaping the rewards.

Coming into his fight with Wade, Loughnane knew that the American was going to try and utilise his wrestling heavy style, but the Brit fought the perfect fight and nullified that part of Wade’s game. Bubba Jenkins is another fighter with an impressive wrestling acumen.

Despite that, this isn’t something Brendan Loughnane is worried about in their upcoming fight. He told VMTV at the PFL London Post Fight Scrum: “Chris Wade outwrestled Bubba Jenkins, easily, very easily. I think Chris’ striking is better than Bubba. Bubba Jenkins is a 3 round fighter.”

Jenkins’ win over Kudo did however come by way of his dominant wrestling, and within a minute of the fight, he landed back-to-back suplex’s, subsequently transitioning to the back of Kudo, tapping him out. Jenkins said about his dominant win: “I knew after lifting him up for the first time, I knew if he stood up he was going to go to suplex city again. I get my laundry done at suplex city, I’ve got a condo and a house in suplex city, I’m the mayor of suplex city.”

Jenkins’ game-plan going into his bout with Loughnane will undoubtedly not steer from his wrestling roots. But Loughnane explained that his fellow featherweights need to get the idea of him being easy to takedown, out of their heads: “It’s a lot harder to take me down than you think with the switching stances. Everybody doesn’t know that I wrestled before I boxed and everybody just thinks they’re going to grab me and throw me to the floor.

All these guys get it out of your head that you think you’re just going to wrestle me easily cause it ain’t happening.”

UK fans can catch the hugely anticipated bout on August 25th on Channel 4, with the venue still to be announced for the promotions championship night. You can also watch Bubba Jenkins post media scrum here.