Following his recent loss to Ignacio Bahamondes at UFC 313, Jalin Turner believes his time in MMA is up.
The lightweight fighter was coming off a loss to Renato Moicano at UFC 300 and sought to return to action to defend his ranking position. However, Turner was unsuccessful, suffering a first-round submission. As a result of the defeat, Jalin Turner has decided to hang up his gloves and call it quits on his MMA career.
Speaking to Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter backstage at T-Mobile Arena, Jalin Turner explained what led to his likely decision to retire.
“It’s hard, man. Fighting’s hard, and I’ve been doing it for 12 years. You either have to be all in or not. Even being in there now, I wasn’t fully all in as I thought I would be. And the decision to stay or not was honestly based on this fight for me,” Turner said. “I thought I’d get the nod, get the win. I watched him. He’s an up-and-coming prospect, and he deserved the opportunity. I felt like I would’ve got my hand raised, but I didn’t. I know it’s emotional right now, but I’ve been thinking about this for the last 11 months—whether I’m gonna keep fighting or not. I was hesitant to sign the fight contract because I didn’t know if I was going to retire or not. I didn’t know how much longer I wanted to keep doing this.
“Now my kids are getting older. I don’t want to keep taking damage,” Turner continued. “Training camps are hard. Life is really taking a toll. It’s been taking a toll for the last 11 months, so I just need to step away for a little bit. Maybe forever. At this point, the competition just keeps getting better, and I’m just getting older. So yeah, I’m just going to sit down and think about it. You know? But I think that’s it. Doubts come; there are always going to be things that deter you. I was in love with it. I love the sport. I love competing, but the fire is just not there.”
His retirement from MMA leaves Turner’s pro record at 7-6, with wins over opponents like King Green and Brad Riddell.
