After years battling addiction, Springfield gym owner Jimmy Jennett is preparing to headline what organizers say will be the Pacific Northwest's first bare-knuckle boxing match.
The Dec. 19 event at Ilani Resort on the Cowlitz Indian Reservation in Washington marks an unlikely return to competition for the 49-year-old martial artist, who credits fitness with helping him to rebuild his life.
Fifteen years ago, Jennett moved from California to Springfield "looking for a change" to help him overcome his drug addiction. He spent his young adult years incarcerated on drug charges in California and was released from parole in 2010. Still struggling with drugs, he reconnected with his mother who lives in the Eugene-Springfield area and enrolled in recovery.
It wasn't smooth sailing for the young man, who was a college athlete before his arrest. Jennett attempted suicide in 2011 and he credits his passion for mixed martial arts, which he began while he was on parole, with getting him out of that dark place.
"If you have one foot in the fitness world and one foot in the drug world, one's going to win," Jennett said.
Fitness won. Jennett fought as an amateur from 2010 to 2015 and professionally from 2016 to 2018, according to MMA fan site tapology.
Jennett stepped away for health reasons. He said he's had 17 heart procedures due to his atrial fibrillation and nine orthopedic surgeries.
After he stepped away, Jennett founded his gym, Checkered Past MMA and met his girlfriend. Between them, the couple has six children.
Checkered Past MMA offers classes for adults and children, giving Jennett a way to share his story and "share that straight edge message" about wasting life in the throes of addiction.
"I think (Martial Arts are) good for every single human being," Jennett said, and whether it's a class of 6 or 25 "I'm happy just to show up and teach."
Jennett's gym is a labor of love, not a money-maker. He remarked that in the gym's six years (he founded the gym in 2019 and took a one-year pandemic break) the only payment he's given himself was his recent purchase of a $6,000 car.
"I basically paid myself a dollar an hour," he joked.
The health challenges that took Jennett away from professional fighting, including atrial fibrillation, make his return that much more exceptional. Jennett was drawn back in by the growth of bare-knuckle boxing.
Bare knuckle boxing was illegal across the United States until some states began legalizing it in 2018, according to UN Sanctioned Fights. Despite the sport's growth over the last eight years, it remains illegal in Oregon and Washington, but there's an exception for tribal land, which has given Jennett the opportunity to headline the first Pacific Northwest event.
"Anybody (who) goes to this fight, they're going to be there to witness local fight history," Jennett said. "That was really important to me."
Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached by email at atorres@registerguard.com, on X @alanfryetorres or on Reddit at u/AlfrytRG.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Springfield's Jimmy Jennett to headline first PNW bare-knuckle fight