UFC 313 on Saturday night included a bit of everything, from epic wars to title upsets and even a shock retirement.
UFC 313 got off to a bit of a disappointing start when it was announced just a few hours before the event that fights including Curtis Blaydes and Chris Gutierrez were off due to last-minute illness’.
Despite that, when the event did finally start, after wide complaints from fans due to the delays, it lived up to expectation as Mauricio Ruffy opened up the main card with a spectacular KO over Bobby Green.
However, things took an emotional turn when Jalin Turner faced off against Ignacio Bahamondes in a big lightweight fight.
Jalin Turner explains his shock retirement after UFC 313 loss
Unfortunately for ‘The Tarantula’, though, he was handed his fourth loss in five fights and his second loss in a row, when the Chilean submitted him in round one.
Following his disappointing loss, Turner appeared to retire when he took his gloves off with his team seemingly trying to talk him out of it.
Despite that, the 29-year-old went through with his shocking retirement and since then, he has explained exactly why he will walk away from the UFC in an emotional interview.
“I was already entertaining the thought, you know, retiring after UFC 300, I took a bit of time off but kept training, I was trying to get my mind right and just focus on my mental health,” Turner explained to Aaron Bronsteter as he broke down in tears.
“It’s hard man, fighting is hard, I’ve even doing it for 12 years and you’ve got to be all in or not and even being in there tonight, I wasn’t all in, I though I would be.
“The decision to stay or not was honestly based off this fight for me… I’ve been thinking about this for the last 11 months if I’m gonna keep fighting or not… My kids are getting older, I don’t want to keep taking damage, training camps are hard, life has taken its toll,” he continued.
Jalin Turner was once considered a dark horse in the lightweight division
Turner’s retirement not only comes as a huge shock because of the fact that he is just 29 years old, but because he was once regarded as a dark horse in the 155lb division.
Because of his huge 6’3″ frame at lightweight, he was an extremely tough puzzle to crack for several of the opponents he faced throughout his seven year tenure.
A five fight win streak where he finished all fights in the first two rounds saw him enter top 10 at lightweight and he was considered as a dark horse because of his unique style.
Although Turner isn’t sure what will come next in his life, he would like to remain close to the UFC, potentially looking to take commentary gigs.