There is no love lost between rivals Bubba Jenkins and Chris Wade.
No. 1 seeded Featherweight Jenkins returns to action this Friday (Aug. 4, 2023) against Jesus Pinedo in the 2023 PFL semifinals, hoping to win $1 million at the year-end culminating event later this year.
While Jenkins’ sole focus is defeating Pinedo, the Peruvian who upset 2022 Featherweight champion Brendan Lougnane via knockout, there is a chance “Bad Man” faces his biggest rival, Chris Wade, in the championship.
The pair of fighters hold a win over each other and absolutely despise one another.
“Oh, I wanted to hear that name again. Trust me, don’t get it twisted. I wanted that,” Jenkins said at PFL 7 media day. “I want ‘Karen Hogback’ to make it through [Gabriel] Braga. I’m not sure if Karen is gonna win against Braga — the alternate who wasn’t supposed to be here because Sung Bin Jo allowed him in. But yeah, I think Braga is going to be the person I fight. But if Karen can get past Braga, I’m going to destroy him for 25 minutes. There will be a period of time in there where you guys will see my dislike for Karen.”
The term “Karen” came to prominence in 2020 when middle-class white women started to go viral by using their privilege to disparage people of color.
“What does ‘Karen’ normally do when we name her ‘Karen’? She’s a tattletale, and she’s speaking on this, speaking on that, not minding her own business. Everyone knows [Chris] is an annoying little ‘Karen,’” Jenkins said. Chris cries about this; he b—tches about that. It’s inappropriate to do this. You can’t do that. ‘I heard Bubba didn’t make weight; I want to see the film.’ He is always b—tching and crying about something. ‘Well, I don’t like these guys, I don’t think you’re supposed like these guys’ — shut your b—tch ass up, bro.”
“Like, I don’t know what he thought we were going to do when we got in the fight last year. But he’s complaining about the grabbing of the gloves, complaining about an eye poke complaining about a need to this sternum, bro it’s a fight! This is the Professional Fighters League. This is not badminton. This is not tic tac toe. If I get in the elevator, I’m gonna slap the sh—t out of you if you say something wrong to me. I’m a fighter. I don’t know what you are. But I’m a real fighter. I’m a real warrior. You can’t just act like these emotions don’t exist, I will slap the sh—t out you if you put my name in your mouth.”
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
