Lightweight Star Says UFC 300 Loss Broke Him So Bad He’s Struggling to Love Sports Again

To most fighters, being a part of the UFC 300 card was a major honor, a card that celebrated 30 years of the organization by putting up one of the most stacked cards in its history. However, for one lightweight star, a loss at the event turned his life around completely.

UFC’s 155 lbs prospect Jalin Turner felt the sting of a knock out at Renato Moicano’s hand. Months later, Moicano would go on to challenge for the title while Turner would fall out of love with mixed martial arts.

Turner was struggling to find his form, having won just one fight in his last three fights before UFC 300. But the milestone PPV would put him out of action for a good 11 months.

He is back now with ambitions of going back to winning ways against Ignacio Bahamondes at UFC 313 this weekend.

But ahead of his fight, as he sat down for an interview with Sirius XM, the 29-year-old fighter laid it bare. “I went through a lot of stuff after that 300 loss.”, Turner said. Elaborating on his state of mind in the days after the loss, the 155er added, “I just grew sick of everything and I had to get off social media. Kind of just to live life a little bit.”

 

Turner also went on to talk about how it was the moment and the occasion that made the loss worse, “300 really hurt my heart, to like lose on such a big card. Stuff like that will just break you.” 

Thankfully, it didn’t. It would have been a shame, considering the caliber of fighter Turner is.  Jalin, of course, credits God for helping him get back on track and getting back to the sport he loves. It may or may not the route destiny planned for him, but it’s only he’s adamant to walk on, and will not let go without a struggle.

His opponent, Ignacio Bahamondes, believes this matchup was meant to be. The Chilean fighter knew he would run into Turner the minute he got into the organization.

Bahamondes delighted to fight Turner

Bahamondes was born into a fighting family; in fact, when he was born, his parents wrapped him up in a Karat Gi instead of a blanket. So, fighting in the UFC is just the realization of a dream he has had ever since he was a kid.

And another thing he knew for sure when he made his UFC debut was that he would run into Turner.

Why? Well, considering we are leaning heavily on the destiny angle, there’s not a lot of scientific logic to go by here. However, Ignacio does believe their heights have something to do with it.

During media day ahead of their UFC 313 fight, he spoke about it and said, “Since I got into the UFC I knew I was going to fight him. Just because he’s tall, I’m tall, so every time they would say, he’s (Turner) the tallest in the division.” 

Interestingly, both Bahamondes and Turner are 6’3!

But both their energies going into fight weekend are very different. Bahamondes just seems happy to be there, ready to show the world what he’s made of. Turner, on the other hand, has a completely new look to him, having shaved his head off, and even hinting a retirement.

Turner claims he’s 30 and may not fight for much longer, so he is just soaking in the occasion. Hopefully, when he fights, he does so like it’s the curtains are coming down,