‘The Tarantula’ has officially called it quits; with Jalin Turner now sharing an emotional final farewell to his fans on social media after suffering defeat at UFC 313.
Following his submission loss to Ignacio Bahamondes this past weekend in Las Vegas, ‘The Tarantula’ appeared to retire when he took off his gloves – despite his team seemingly trying to talk him out of announcing his retirement.
Turner would then break down in tears as he explained the decision to call it quits after the UFC 313 event, revealing that he’d been considering his exit for the better part of a year.
Jalin Turner issues statement after shock retirement at 29 years old
Three days after announcing his retirement from MMA, Jalin Turner has now penned an emotional statement in which he thanked his family and fanbase for their unwavering support.
“Thank you for all the love and support! I started training mma at 18 in 2013 I started training in my backyard, a SoCal, LA born, IE raised kid with no path and a big dream. God opened the door to MMA when I didn’t know where else to go.
“I gave myself 4 years to fight in a big promotion and I did then the 5th year I got to the UFC in 2018… Made it to the top 10 in the toughest division… I made it in a video game… Looking back It doesn’t feel real.”
Turner scored seven big wins inside the UFC octagon, earning himself two ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses with standout finishes over Brad Riddell in 2022 and King Green in 2023.
Unfortunately, ‘The Tarantula’ experienced a stop-start final few years in the promotion, going 1-4 in his final five fights – including a wild comeback loss in which he’d walked away from his KO’d opponent.
“I love you all. I’m sorry I lost my focus and fire earlier than ever expected,” continued Turner.
“29 years young time is on my good side. I wish I could reply to everyone’s messages. Just know all the positivity has helped me more than you all know I appreciate it all!
“Things can change …We’ll see what the future holds.”
Dana White reacts to Jalin Turner’s decision to retire after UFC 313
Turner’s decision to call it quits after UFC 313 was met with a mixed reaction from the global MMA community.
On one hand, fans argued that ‘The Tarantula’ (at 29 years old) still has plenty left in the tank, while others agreed with the opinion that it was time for Turner to hang up the gloves for good.
UFC CEO Dana White is in the ‘retirement now’ camp.
“Yeah, he yelled through the cage to me,” shared Dana White at the UFC 313 post-fight press conference.
“I said, ‘Yeah, alright’, I let the truck know that he was gonna retire and then I think somebody talked him out of retiring in the Octagon tonight, I don’t know if it was Belal [Muhammad] or who it was.
“Yeah, you know how I feel about that, usually when you start [considering retirement], rarely do I disagree with somebody when they feel like they wanna retire.”
Jalin Turner bows out with a professional record of 14-9 and a UFC record of 7-6.