Australian featherweight Jack Jenkins excited to return from serious injury in Perth against Ramon Taveras

For Jack Jenkins, Perth is the perfect place for him to overcome the biggest obstacle of his UFC career. Jenkins (13-4) will step back into the octagon for the first time since he snapped his thyroid cartilage in February in a third-round submission loss to Gabriel Santos that left him 1mm away from never being able to speak again. Remarkably, Jenkins fought for seven minutes with the injury that resulted in air leaking into his chest and neck and required emergency surgery after the fight in Sydney. The Melbourne athlete told The West Australian that his biggest hurdle would be the mental one which would come when he has to enter the cage before his featherweight bout against Ramon Taveras (10-3) at RAC Arena on Sunday. “The real hurdle for me will be when I stand on the edge of the cage, that’s the real moment of testing,” Jenkins said. “All I can do is get myself in the absolute tip-top shape so that when I step in there I give myself the best chance. “Everyone would like to sit here and tell you that they know how things are going to go, but no one knows. You don’t know what’s around the corner. I’ve done the work and we can have a chat afterwards about how it went.” Jenkins is happy to be back in Western Australia preparing for another bout at RAC Arena. The 31-year-old has a love affair with the venue, having won on UFC debut against Don Shainis at UFC 284 before backing it up with an impressive third-round finish with a brutal right hook against Herbert Burns at UFC 305 in August last year. “There are certain things in life that are intangible and there’s just something about Perth as a city for me — the first time I came here was as a coach for one of my teammates who is now cornering me for this fight and he had a great fight,” Jenkins said. “When I came back the second time I was here it was for my debut and I just felt a good energy, I felt confident that the fight camp had gone well and when I came back for the second fight it was the same thing. “You start to wonder is there something special about the place for me and I have this same impact in Sydney but negative. I go to Sydney and things just don’t seem to go well, they don’t seem to work for me. I am back in Perth, the weather’s brilliant, my fight camp’s been brilliant, and I am excited about this fight.” Jenkins will take prime spot on the card for the big fight night event, with his match against Taveras set to be one of the must-watch match-ups of the event. “I would love to tell you that we’re on where we are on the main card purely because of me and my career to date, but I think it’s definitely because of the work he’s done as well,” he said. “He is violent and he’s exciting. The UFC have earmarked this fight for one that will be able to showcase what the UFC is all about. “It’s no secret that my kicks are going to be better than his and I’m going to have to stay away from his left hand.”