Jalin Turner addresses emotional retirement decision after submission loss to Ignacio Bahamondes at UFC 313: "I was already entertaining the thought"

Jalin Turner took on Ignacio Bahamondes in a lightweight showdown on the main card of UFC 313. He suffered a first-round submission defeat in the bout, following which he announced his retirement from MMA. Turner discussed his emotional decision in the aftermath of his loss.

Turner walked into the fight with three losses from his last four outings. The 29-year-old American has a professional record of 14-9 at the time of his retirement from the competition.

'The Tarantula' spoke to MMA journalist Aaron Bronsteter while holding back his tears about his emotional decision.

"I was already entertaining the thought to retiring at UFC 300, took a little bit of time off, kept training, trying to get my mind right, just focus on my mental health. It's hard man, fighting is hard, I've been doing this for 12 years, and it's either gonna be all in or not, and being there even now wasn't fully all in as I thought."

He continued:

"The decision to stay was honestly based off this fight for me. I felt like I'll get the nod, get the win, I watched him, he's an up-and-coming prospect deserved the opportunity and I felt that I'd get my hand raised. No, I didn't, it's not a... I know it's emotional right now but I've been thinking about this for the last 11 months if I'm gonna keep fighting or not."

Check out Jalin Turner's comments below:

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Ignacio Bahamondes offers to help Jalin Turner while asking him to reconsider his decision

Jalin Turner entered the octagon against Ignacio Bahamondes with the hope of returning to the win column. However, his pursuit ended after getting submitted in the first round of the fight.

Following his defeat, Turner hung up his gloves in an emotional retirement announcement from the sport. Bahamondes was asked about his rival's decision and whether he had a word about it with him in the post-fight press conference of UFC 313. He replied by saying:

"I told him don't do that. Come on, if you need help, if you need something, I'm here, if you need to come back to... come to Chicago and train just to love it again. I told him he could stay at my house no problem. I'm open to help him, team is open to help him. I just told him to go back home and think about it but please don't do it. He pushed me to my best and made me so better, and he still got lot more to give to this sport."

Check out Ignacio Bahamondes' comments on Jalin Turner below (1:36):