Jack Jenkins looks to pick up his fourth UFC victory, and will do so close to home.
On Tuesday, the UFC officially announced that Jenkins is set to face Gabriel Santos at UFC 312. The event takes place Feb. 8 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
After earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in October 2022, Jenkins has picked up octagon victories in three of four fights. The 31-year-old picked up a pair of decision wins against Don Shainis and Jamall Emmers before getting stopped by Chepe Mariscal at UFC 293 in September 2023. Jenkins bounced back with a third-round finish of Herbert Burns at UFC 305 in August, and now returns to the scene of his lone UFC loss with the chance to right the wrong.
Santos enters the bout fresh off of his first UFC victory. After giving Lerone Murphy all he could handle — losing a short notice split decision — at UFC 286 in March 2023, and suffering a knockout loss to David Onama at UFC Jacksonville three months later, Santos earned a decision victory over Yizha at UFC Vegas 97 in September.
UFC 312 is headlined by a middleweight championship rematch between Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland, while Zhang Weili puts her strawweight belt on the line against Tatiana Suarez in the co-main event.