“I feel like a weight has been lifted,” Jalin Turner stated. “But also, it’s the death of my dreams, it’s hard, I mourn it. … It’s the right decision for now, I feel like it’s really responsible of me to acknowledge what’s going on – It’s not to say that that fire won’t come back.” Turner raised a lot of eyebrows when he recently announced his retirement from the UFC, and that too, at just 29 years old. There were a lot of speculations about his decision to hang up those gloves so early, but we now have some answers.

According to the 155fer himself, he started having thoughts about summing up his fighting career after losing his UFC 300 bout against Renato Moicano owing to a botched finish earlier in the fight. Moreover, ‘The Tarantula’ has only one victory in his final five UFC outings, which came against King Green in December 2023 at UFC on ESPN 52. Moreover, it was an impressive first-round finish which saw him wobbling the lightweight stalwart with a big right hand, and then finishing him off on the ground.

However, Turner claims to have been called out by the fans because they felt as if he landed a little too many punches on Green, even when the latter appeared completely switched off. While speaking on the Ariel Helwani show, Jalin Turner revealed, “I got a lot of strife from the finish with Bobby [King Green], and the community was like, ‘Why didn’t you stop? I’m a good guy, so that wasn’t my intent to continue to hurt the guy, but that’s what you got to do in the sport, you know. You go until the ref calls you off,” Turner explained.

The former UFC fighter claimed to have gone through a similar situation in his next fight against Renato Moicano at the aforementioned UFC 300, which he lost but felt as if he didn’t want to participate in trading strikes. “[Then] how it played out in [UFC ]300, where I just had a little moment of clarity where I just didn’t want to continue to hurt this man [Renato Moicano]. I didn’t want to continue to hit him… and then everybody was like, ‘You shouldn’t do this. You shouldn’t do that. Walk off.'”

However, everything came crashing down as he couldn’t take the too much from the community, the pressure to perform well and win fights got to him. The loss to Ignacio Bahamondes appeared to be the final nail in the coffin, as Turner finally called it a career. However, he did mention that if he had been victorious at UFC 313, he wouldn’t have made the call that he did.

“Just felt like I had so much of a letdown on myself, on the people that believed in me, on the promotion… It took a really big toll mentally, and everything started to like… so many things I’ve seen deteriorate in my personal life,” Turner added. “It was a lot, you know. There was so much going on… Ultimately, that performance, you know, not following up. Had I won that fight… things probably would have been a little bit different.”

However, he’s still 29 years old, and as such, Jalin Turner, in his first statement following UFC 313, hinted at possibly considering a return in the future. Let’s take a look at that front.

Jalin Turner might return to UFC in the future

Following his retirement announcement, Jalin Turner reminisced about his mixed martial arts journey. Starting from the age of 18, he stood in the fight business for well over a decade. It appears that MMA was the only thing he ever knew, and he cherishes that he made it to the UFC, fighting against the world’s best. While ending his statement on a positive note, Turner mentioned that the ‘door’ for a potential UFC return is open.

“God opened the door to MMA when I didn’t know where else to go… I got to the UFC in 2018. Made it to the top 10 in the toughest division… Just know all the positivity has helped me more than you all know. I appreciate it all,” the 29-year-old wrote on Instagram. “Things can change …We’ll see what the future holds.” What do you think? Could we see him return?

Well, layoffs sometimes prove beneficial, and Dominick Reyes is an excellent example of that notion. But in the case of Jalin Turner, how long are we talking about? We don’t know that yet. If his layoff turns out to be of a similar period to that of Conor McGregor, maybe there is no more return. Regardless, what do you think of Turner’s statements? Drop your comments below.