UFC lightweight Jalin Turner’s stock never has been higher, but that might be making one of the more difficult periods of his career even more frustrating.
“Man, honestly, dude, this sh*t is eating away at me, bro,” Turner recently told MMA Junkie. “I want to train so bad. That’s all I want to do is train, stay relevant, get in the mix. You know what I mean? Keep progressing and learning. I watch all these fights, all these lightweight fights. I know I can beat these guys. Obviously, of course, I’m not going to beat them sitting on my ass on the couch playing ‘Call of Duty’ all day.”
Officially a top-10-ranked UFC lightweight, Turner (13-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) has been on the shelf since a breakthrough performance in a quick July submission victory over Brad Riddell at UFC 276. It hasn’t been a linear recovery for Turner, who revealed to MMA Junkie he competed in the bout with a torn tricep.
Following surgery, Turner thought he was on the straight path to recovery. However, problems persisted. A follow-up X-ray showed bone fragments that previously went undetected, which resulted in another procedure. Even four weeks out from that, Turner still isn’t healing as quickly as he’d like.
“The doctor told me I should be out eight weeks,” Turner said. “But shoot, man, after yesterday the pain I was in, I was sparring Luke (Rockhold), like I said. He just touched my arm and my arm bent back, boom. I kneeled over in pain. It was horrible. I was like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ It was worse than before. It didn’t even hurt that bad when I injured it, so I was like, ‘What the heck is going on with my arm?'”
While certainly any roadblock for a hungry professional athlete is irking, Turner is in relatively good spirits. Being injured isn’t a totally new experience. From September 2020-September 2021, he battled injuries and currently uses the same mental tools from that 12-month inactive stretch. That includes skateboarding and playing with his dog to keep his mind occupied.
While Turner is temporarily still, the division moves on. Turner will keep a close eye on things, however, as he targets a March or April return to action.
“Now, I’ve got to pay a lot more attention to (the fights),” Turner said. I’m already up there. I watched (Renato) Moicano’s fight. That would be a good fight. I think I run through him. Dustin (Poirier) and (Michael) Chandler was a great fight. I like watching them fight. I’d love to fight either one of them, too. Dan (Hooker), he did his thing. I called that win for him. I thought he was going to win that fight. I’m happy he got the win. That would be a good fight. I’d love to make that fight happen in February, but I don’t know, dude. We’ll see.
“Healing freaking sucks, bro. I can’t even plot my next. move until I get through physical therapy and getting full extension of my arm and getting the strength back.”
