Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Some people on the west coast except the 7:00 AM podcast. Bam we’re live <laugh>
Jalin Turner (00:04):
Yeah, man. It’s wild. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (00:07):
Are you headed to the gym?
Jalin Turner (00:09):
No, I’m just chilling at home. Um, alright. I’m gonna end up going maybe like, uh, the next couple hours.
Sevan Matossian (00:15):
All right, cool. My name’s Seon by the way. Thanks for doing this.
Jalin Turner (00:18):
Yeah, no problem.
Sevan Matossian (00:19):
Yeah. Thanks a lot for doing this. Are you, are your kids sleeping? Is that why you’re in the car or?
Jalin Turner (00:23):
Yeah, they’re in there sleeping. Yeah. Don’t wanna wake ’em
Sevan Matossian (00:25):
Up. Yeah, you’re a good dad. Are you single dad?
Jalin Turner (00:28):
Yeah. Single dad.
Sevan Matossian (00:29):
Yeah. And, and, and the, and you raised the kids yourself?
Jalin Turner (00:32):
Uh, uh, their mom’s in the picture still?
Sevan Matossian (00:34):
Yeah. What, what a, uh, I didn’t have kids until I’m 50 now and I didn’t have kids until I was, I had my first kid when I was 43. Oh. And when I see, when I see a man, like you pursuing what you’re doing and raising kids and giving time to your kids, I’m just blown away.
Jalin Turner (00:52):
Yeah, man, it’s, it’s a lot to juggle, but I was new. I want a kid, so, and I’ve heard so many people like around me, like stop chasing their dreams because they had kids, they had to, you know, work and, and put their priorities first. And you know, like, I was blessed enough to have people around me that like still helped support me and get me to this point. But like, in my mind, I always knew I was never, never gonna stop chasing my dream no matter what
Sevan Matossian (01:15):
You knew. I didn’t want kids. You knew you wanted kids. Yeah. I mean, I’m glad now don’t get me wrong. Like, it’s, it’s my whole life now, but I, I just thought it would be crazy to have ’em but you knew.
Jalin Turner (01:26):
Yeah. I’ve always wanted kids. I always wanted to be a dad. Um, yeah. I, when I, I used to want five kids, but after I have my, my first one, I was like, um, I’m okay with just one at this point. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (01:37):
And, but, but you have don’t don’t you have two.
Jalin Turner (01:39):
Yeah. I got two.
Sevan Matossian (01:40):
You and you got a girl and a boy.
Jalin Turner (01:42):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (01:43):
Yeah. And, and how old are they?
Jalin Turner (01:45):
My daughter’s three. My son gonna be five this year.
Sevan Matossian (01:48):
Crazy. I, I got, uh, let me see. I got a picture of ’em here somewhere and, and where’s home for you.
Jalin Turner (01:56):
Uh, I’m in Loma Linda right now,
Sevan Matossian (01:58):
So, and, and you’re born and raised. You’re a California boy through and through? Yeah.
Jalin Turner (02:02):
Yeah. Born and raised. Born in LA, grew up in Fontana. In San Bernardino.
Sevan Matossian (02:06):
And, and, and what are your mom and dad? What are you, do you know what you are?
Jalin Turner (02:10):
Uh, nationality wise?
Sevan Matossian (02:11):
Yeah. Or ethnicity? Like what your background is?
Jalin Turner (02:15):
Um,
Sevan Matossian (02:15):
You ever been 23 in Mead?
Jalin Turner (02:18):
Nah.
Sevan Matossian (02:19):
Yeah. Smart. Don’t do that shit. If you do it, use a fake name.
Jalin Turner (02:21):
<laugh> <laugh> for sure. No, my sister did her a little DNA test thing and, um, uh, we’re majority, majority African and like cats like Scandinavian and some other stuff in there.
Sevan Matossian (02:33):
You don’t have any Japanese in you?
Jalin Turner (02:35):
No, not, not that I’ve seen.
Sevan Matossian (02:37):
Has anyone ever said that to
Jalin Turner (02:38):
You? No.
Sevan Matossian (02:39):
No. I mean, cuz you kind of look like a samurai, like look at your eyes
Jalin Turner (02:43):
<laugh> that’s right.
Sevan Matossian (02:46):
And you’re so tall.
Jalin Turner (02:48):
Yeah. I, I, I respect that. Samura samurai Tarula
Sevan Matossian (02:53):
<laugh> yeah, yeah. Uh, Cobra, the great Cobra, Rhode, uh, world famous arm wrestler. Jaying great submission last weekend. Yeah. Crazy submission. Thank you. Yeah. Crazy. You know, Cobra. Mm-hmm cobras. Uh, man, you’re just, you’re just exploding and, and, and when I watch your podcast, I can just see, I can just see it in your, like in, in like you’re being, you’re using words like destiny and manifested and I always knew it, it, some something’s happening to you. Right. Is that, is that mental or spiritual or what’s going on?
Jalin Turner (03:29):
Um, I think it’s a little bit of both mainly mental. Um, I just started just changing my mindset with everything and putting literally like when I manifest I’ll, especially like with the fight, I’ll literally try to focus in zone in and like put myself in the fight, visual, visualize every outcome, you know, visualize negative outcomes and how I’m gonna get out of it, visualize every positive outcome and, and just keeping my mind focused, you know, like realizing like I’m human, you know, I’m gonna make mistakes, but as long as I do my job and keep my focus on my purpose and, and what I need to get done, then all that becomes somewhat irrelevant. You know, it’s gonna happen. So I’ve been soaking that in and you know, it’s, it’s as weird as it may sound like I’ve been feeling kinda like more average, but in my mind, I’m, I’m, I’m just taking in, I’m taking in the good with the bad and just going with the flow and enjoying the moment even more instead of like trying to be like this super motivated all the time, always, you know what I’m saying?
Jalin Turner (04:35):
Like always on, on this shit and like, like in reality, like is the, in a perfect world. Yeah. Like that, that’s what you wanna be. But you know, we all have shortcomings, you know, I have, you know, bad days mentally where I don’t wanna do anything. I don’t wanna go Excel and be great, you know? And like, I accept it, you know, it doesn’t, it doesn’t mess me up. It doesn’t throw me off. And then if I need to take that day off, I take that day off. Like, I’ve just, I’ve just grown, you know, I’ve done this so long. I’ve just started to like figure myself out and figure out how to like break into and tap into something else mentally and spiritually, instead of just, uh, you know, just trying to like find motivational videos to keep me motivated and find this and that and do all this other stuff. I’m like tapping into myself and figuring out like within myself.
Sevan Matossian (05:24):
Uh, it sounds like maybe compassion for yourself.
Jalin Turner (05:27):
Yeah. That could be it too. Yeah. Uh, I don’t know the word for it, but it’s, it’s, it’s helped <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (05:34):
Um, when you, when you say that, um, what if I were to come back and say, Hey, are you getting soft? Are, are you, are you, are you enjoying the victories too much? May, may maybe the success has gone to your head?
Jalin Turner (05:47):
No, not at all.
Sevan Matossian (05:48):
Like, fuck you. <laugh>
Jalin Turner (05:53):
It’s it is like, it’s honestly like, even with this one, like I’ve telling my friends, like, and I was just, I’ve been telling a lot of people, like, like I’m happy to be where I’m at, you know, but I also expected it of myself. And then at the same time, it’s like, like I don’t really get too excited about, you know, oh, you’re in the top 14, top 15, you number 14 now. Like, like, yeah. Like I, if it’s a big accolade, but like I’ve, I’m, I’m searching for more and it’s almost like a melancholy filling because you know, like it’s like, it’s satisfying, it’s gratifying. But I, it also isn’t at the same time kind of like, okay, like, it’s cool, you know, but there’s, there’s still more to be done, you know, there’s, there’s a lot more pressure added now. So it’s like, I’m more focused on that and getting better and adapting for the next step than, than ex just enjoying this one moment so much, you know, like, like I enjoyed it when it happened, when I seen it. And now I’m kind of like, you know, mentally moving on towards the next step, you know?
Sevan Matossian (06:51):
Uh, it’s interesting. You use the word melancholy. I remember when I, I, I won my first, um, film festival and for Whitaker and Selma HYT gave me my award and the film went to like 30 film festivals and it won ’em all. And I remember after I got the award at this one film festival in force Whitaker handed it to me, uh, the academy award winner, I, I, I left the film festival and I called my mom. I was probably in my late twenties, early thirties and I was crying and she goes, what’s up? I’m like, there’s nothing here. I feel no different with the victory. There’s no, there’s no, like it’s, it’s, it’s gonna be never ending pursuit of trying to get shit my whole life. And I’m never gonna be fucking fulfilled, but, but at the same time, you still, you gotta just leverage that desire to try to fulfill that unfulfillable bucket. Yeah. To, to keep going. Right?
Jalin Turner (07:37):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (07:39):
It’s it’s like you get down. Um, what about this? What about this? This is from, uh, this is almost three years ago from nothing to something growing up. A lot of people made me feel like I was nothing. I took nothing and made it into a lot. Um, who, who was that? What was that?
Jalin Turner (07:59):
Um, that was just like me just reflected on my past. Like, I always felt like I like man, like growing up and it, it was, it was hard growing up. Like I just always felt,
Sevan Matossian (08:14):
Always felt. How could it be hard growing up? You’re you’re you are in California. You’re tall and you’re good looking
Jalin Turner (08:20):
Well, I
Sevan Matossian (08:21):
I’m, I’m short. I’m not good looking, but I was in California. That was cool. I
Jalin Turner (08:25):
<laugh>, I haven’t always been this good looking. Yeah. All
Sevan Matossian (08:28):
Right. I know I saw the picture. I saw the picture
Jalin Turner (08:31):
<laugh> man. Um, I just, I just went through a lot growing up, like, and it, it all taught me a lot. I’m grateful for like how, like my up upbringing, but like, I just never felt like I like, I, I fit in anywhere. Um, and even like the places like the people I would hang out with, like, I would seldomly fit in, like, but they, like, it was just like more about the acceptance and it just became a lot,
Sevan Matossian (08:54):
You know, why, why you’re weirdo? You’re weirdo like spiders or what do you mean you didn’t fit in? I didn’t fit in either, but why didn’t you fit in?
Jalin Turner (09:01):
Um, man, like I used to skateboard, I guess like, like some, like most of my friends weren’t like, they didn’t like, okay. So I always,
Sevan Matossian (09:10):
I know you wanted kids at a young age. That’s weird as shit.
Jalin Turner (09:14):
<laugh> yeah. Oh man. Um, I just feel like I didn’t fit in with certain groups of people. I never like, like had like a level of acceptance where I felt comfortable and like situations, like, it’s just crazy, you know? Like it’s like out here, it’s like, you, you know, you either academically smart in school or, you know, you’re, or you’re a sports player or, you know, like, or you’re, you’re just a little thug, you know, it’s like, there wasn’t really, like, I didn’t really fit into any of that. You know, I, I tried out for sports. Wasn’t really good at them. Um, until I found wrestling, I fell in love with wrestling and that’s what actually like got me into the pursuit of MMA. Um,
Sevan Matossian (10:00):
Why you think you’re more of an artist? Not academic, not, are you crazy creative type?
Jalin Turner (10:05):
Yeah. I feel like that too, but like, I even like, even with art, like I just feel like it wasn’t like, like my complete niche. Like I loved art class. Like, don’t get me wrong. Like, like my art teacher was the best. Like she was super awesome and, you know, um, but I just, at the end of the day, I just still felt like there was always something missing for me. Like I did. I always felt like I was destined for greatness, but I never knew what it was, you know? And it always bugged me. It always bothered me, but you know, I still went all my life. Like I, like, I didn’t really like get to me too much, but like, I, like, my outlets would be like, like skateboarding or like, you know, like I used to have like pets, like, those are my outlets, you know? Like those were like the things that made me kind of like, feel like, like, like I had like a little bit of a purpose. I like like growing up at those times.
Sevan Matossian (10:51):
And skateboarding’s hard. Right. You gotta have almost a little bit of Asperger’s or a little autism, you know, like these like, like whenever you see the pro skaters and they’re interview interviewed, you’re like, oh yeah, you’re fucking like, like one of those Japanese kids that plays the violin, you know what I mean? I mean, you gotta, I mean, that kick flip is fucking hard. It’s the obsessive
Jalin Turner (11:08):
Yeah. Skateboarding. The number one thing I feel like I took away from skateboarding is like determination and stubbornness, because like, you get hurt, broke off and you just wanna learn, you just wanna land this one trick, you know, you just wanna land it and land it. And you’ll do, you’ll try to a thousand times until you get it, you know? And then once you get it, it’s like the best feeling in the world. And then you just keep chasing that feeling and just keep wanting to progress and get better. And like, same thing. Like if you’re like trying to do a trick off a stair set, you know, and you mess up, hurt your ankle. You like, you keep trying until like you like legit or hurt and you can’t keep going anymore. And then you come back and try to try it again. You know? So that’s, that’s what skateboarding talking like mentally,
Sevan Matossian (11:44):
I I’m reading this book by, or I’m listening to this book. I just finished it by, uh, Bob Rotella. It’s called, uh, championship mindset. And, uh, he LeBron’s three point coach when he picked up LeBron, LeBron was only shooting, like, I don’t know, 29% or 20%, three throws. And then three of the women he coached in golf are the three only women, I think who shot a 59 in a tournament. I guess that’s good. I don’t play golf, but, and he, and he tells all these stories, but the three things he says that great people have in common is they’re focused on, on three things, their health, their family, and then whatever their shit is, whether it be golf or MMA or, and, and when I, and when I look at your, um, when I look at your, uh, Instagram, you pretty much fall into those categories. Like your, your, your health is like, and your family are, and then, then MMA.
Jalin Turner (12:35):
Yeah, those are, those are my, my biggest priorities, for sure. Because like, you know, if that being said, if I’m not healthy, I can’t provide for my family. You know? And if I’m not healthy and I can’t provide for my family, I’m gonna be mentally messed up and I’m not gonna be able to go do my job as well. You know? So it all that all ties together with greatness, regardless of any, anything you really look at, you know, um, like even a normal job, if you go to a regular job and your, your mental health isn’t there. And, and you’re not, you know, you don’t, you hate it. You don’t wanna go there. Like, it’s, it’s not gonna be good. It’s the negative energy is just gonna resonate with everybody else’s around you, you know? So
Sevan Matossian (13:14):
How old are you again?
Jalin Turner (13:15):
27.
Sevan Matossian (13:16):
So you had your, a son at 22. Yeah. And, and you weren’t tripping, you weren’t like scared to death.
Jalin Turner (13:22):
<laugh> nah, I wasn’t scared to death. Um,
Sevan Matossian (13:25):
You didn’t see like your whole life flash before your eyes like, oh shit, I gotta do this. I gotta do this. I better get a job at Starbucks so I can get health insurance. And
Jalin Turner (13:33):
No, I didn’t, I didn’t stress out about it like that. Like I already, well, did I have a job? I don’t remember where my job was. I had a job at the time already, so I wasn’t really stressing it. But, um, yeah, like, I, I don’t know, dude, like, even when I was, I think I, I had a pregnancy scare with my girlfriend. I was like 17, 16, 17. So that was crazy, you know? So I, at that point I already like figured out like, well, you know, my mom’s not gonna kill me if, you know, if I, if I have a kids, I was like, oh shoot.
Sevan Matossian (14:01):
Oh, so you told her, you told your mom about the pregnancy scare.
Jalin Turner (14:05):
Yeah. When I was younger. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (14:07):
So you’re close to, you gotta be close to your mom to tell her that
Jalin Turner (14:09):
She, yes. It’s just my mom. My, my dad’s not in the picture. So like me and my mom are super close.
Sevan Matossian (14:14):
Where’d what happened to your dad?
Jalin Turner (14:16):
Um, her, him and my mom got a divorce when I was like seven years old. And then he was like in and outta my life at that point. And he ended up just completely getting outta my life eventually, uh, you know, had his, had his new wife and they moved somewhere, lost contact with him. So that was that.
Sevan Matossian (14:35):
Um, do you trip now that you have kids, do you ever wonder, like, Hey, how did your dad,
Jalin Turner (14:41):
Me having kids made me understand that my dad is a coward and there’s no excuse for him not owning up to not being in mine and my sister’s life.
Sevan Matossian (14:56):
I, I hear you, but is don’t you, isn’t a party sort of feel, um, bad for him. Like, I mean, look, look what a great son you are and he missed out. He must be hurting. No,
Jalin Turner (15:07):
That’s that, you know, that’s his fault. You know?
Sevan Matossian (15:10):
I, I, I know, I know, I know. I, I hear you. I, I’m not, I’m not trying to like, uh, relinquish him of the blame, but the thought of me being separated from my kids fucking like kill kills me.
Jalin Turner (15:20):
Exactly. Would you ever let anything come between you and your kids?
Sevan Matossian (15:24):
No.
Jalin Turner (15:25):
Okay. So there’s, there’s no excuse for it. Cause I would never let that happen.
Sevan Matossian (15:29):
Yeah. I mean, it would have to be, someone would have to drag me away.
Jalin Turner (15:32):
Yeah. Like it, like, it’d have to be like, you know, like I don’t even know what would like what it would take for me to not be in my kids’ life. You know? Like that’s, that’s how much I care about my kids and my family. So
Sevan Matossian (15:45):
It happy be like a giant comes down a hand, comes from the sky and just takes me.
Jalin Turner (15:49):
Yeah. You know, like that,
Sevan Matossian (15:50):
Something weird like that, that’s it?
Jalin Turner (15:52):
Yeah. Something weird death. Like that’s the only way, like, I don’t, like, I think I I’d have to be outta my kids’ lives.
Sevan Matossian (16:01):
Um, Jaylen, when did you realize you were, you were tough?
Jalin Turner (16:05):
Um, man, honestly, you know, it’s, it’s crazy because like, that’s another thing, like growing up, like my, like my family, like they always called me the soft, the soft one. Like they never, like, if you asked,
Sevan Matossian (16:20):
Like you were sensitive boy, like, oh, Jaylen’s so sensitive.
Jalin Turner (16:24):
Yep. If you ever asked any of my family, like, like, would they have thought I would’ve been the fighter? They like, they’ll tell you no, like not in a million years.
Sevan Matossian (16:34):
And, and, and, and when did you realize it?
Jalin Turner (16:37):
Um, I guess like, like the first couple times I like, I’ve like got street fought, I guess when I was like, I was really young and I was just like, I just always knew, like I had like this like crazy, like rage and like frustration built inside of me, you know? And I guess that also ties into like, not fitting in like feeling like I fit into. I just always had so much, uh, I just knew I had like this crazy, like dark side on the inside of me. Like I, like, I hated it at some like sometimes, but like, I guess like, like when I would get really mad or like fight, like it would like, like come out and like, I’d get a, get a little bit of a release, I guess. And like, I guess that’s when I figured I was kind of tough, but like still kind like I’m smart, but I’m like, you know, I don’t, I don’t know how to explain it. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (17:23):
Yeah. I don’t, I don’t know how to understand either. I do. I do know that feeling though, the first time you get punched in the face, you’re kind of like, oh, that’s not as, that’s not nearly as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
Jalin Turner (17:34):
Yeah. Um, yeah, I guess, I guess that’s the feeling <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (17:41):
Uh, Cobra Cobra. Cobra’s trying to hijack the interview. Uh, Jalen, can you share with us the most important advice or lesson you have received and learned? Whew.
Jalin Turner (17:49):
Oh man. Um, I’ve been, honestly, I’ve been blessed to hear a lot of, uh, great advice. Um, like I really can’t even pinpoint one key aspect of advice that I’ve heard that, uh, that I would say is the best. Um, <affirmative> um, it’s, it’s a plethora, you know, like, don’t stop chasing your dreams, you know, like make it happen, like give it your all, like all the, you know, everything, you know, like just, I’ve heard so much from so many people, like I’ve, I’ve been blessed being around a lot of wise people and, and I guess actually like pretty consistent. So I can’t even tell you what the best key advice was that I’ve had.
Sevan Matossian (18:33):
Um, how old’s your sister?
Jalin Turner (18:35):
Um, my shoulder she’s yeah, I got two sisters. My, one of them’s 30 and the other one’s I don’t know. She’s, she’s a lot older than me and I don’t like to remember her age cuz it, it is pretty crazy, but she’s, we’re like 12 years apart or something like that.
Sevan Matossian (18:47):
And, and, and the sister who’s close to you, did you wrestle with her as a kid growing up? Did you guys wrestle and play and rough house and
Jalin Turner (18:54):
No, not, not too much. No. Uhuh. She, she was mean <laugh> we didn’t get close. We didn’t get close until we both became adults.
Sevan Matossian (19:04):
And, and did she make the effort for that?
Jalin Turner (19:07):
Um, it’s I don’t know. We just both like
Sevan Matossian (19:09):
She has kids.
Jalin Turner (19:10):
Yeah. She has kids too. She has a daughter. Um, I don’t know how the happened. Like I just like around the time, like she, I think she like 20, 20 something. I was like 18 and then like, we just got super close. It was just random. Like, I guess she like kind of realized like how mean she was over the years <laugh> and we just got cool. So, um, yeah, it’s just wild how it happened.
Sevan Matossian (19:34):
It probably, uh, you probably know this as a parent, but the, the best thing about being a parent is watching the siblings get along, right? Yeah. So like your daughter falls down and your bro and your son stops whatever he is doing and runs over and helps her. And you’re like, oh shit, this is the best movie ever.
Jalin Turner (19:51):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (19:52):
So it, it must, it must warm your mom’s heart to see, uh, you and your sister. Good. Because when my kids fight, it sucks. Right? Yeah. Like you see one of your, I have three sons and I see one hit the other one and I, I, I just fucking, I hate it. Yeah. I hate, I don’t mind the wrestling, but just, you know, like walk over with the stick and hit ’em you’re like, damn.
Jalin Turner (20:14):
Yeah. Especially with three boys. Yeah. They’re all gonna be little wrestling.
Sevan Matossian (20:17):
It’s crazy. It’s crazy. Um, you’re you’re six. Three.
Jalin Turner (20:23):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (20:24):
Um, uh, when did you, when did you become six? Three. How old were you when you stopped growing?
Jalin Turner (20:28):
Um, were
Sevan Matossian (20:29):
You ever short?
Jalin Turner (20:32):
Um, I, I, I,
Sevan Matossian (20:36):
The line you guys up by, by height school, were you always at the front? And I was at the back. I was like, Hey, Jaylen, what’s up?
Jalin Turner (20:42):
<laugh>, I’d be like middle back. Like there’s some tall people I grew up with. But, um, uh, I think like in high school I was like 5, 9, 5, 10. And then towards like my senior year, I was like six feet, six feet, maybe six one. And then like a couple years later I hit like six, six, like six, three. And that was it.
Sevan Matossian (21:05):
Dang. Uh, were you ever goofy? Did you ever, ever have a awkward stage? Um, were you on gang? Like a praying Manness all gangling and shit or giraffe?
Jalin Turner (21:13):
Um, yeah. Yeah. I feel like I was like that in high school, in like early high school,
Sevan Matossian (21:18):
Because you don’t show any of that now. It’s crazy. It is kind of crazy how big you are on what weight class you’re in and how you move around don’t you think?
Jalin Turner (21:26):
Yeah, I was like, I was always pretty lean, like growing up, but like now I just put a little bit of muscle on, got my dad Bo going
Sevan Matossian (21:32):
<laugh> yeah. Um, do you, do you, sometimes I hear you say in interviews that it’s hard, it was hard to make 1 55. And then in your most recent interview, you were Compli complementing icon knees in the PI Institute. You said, Hey man, smooth weight loss.
Jalin Turner (21:46):
Yeah. This, this last one was like one of the best. Well, compared to the last couple, this one was amazing. It was so smooth. Um, there was no complaints. Like I didn’t feel bad. Didn’t feel like, like, of course you always feel depleted in drained cutting weight, but I didn’t feel like, like I was gonna like fall over, you know, <laugh> so it was, it was smooth.
Sevan Matossian (22:06):
And, um, and basically because of your size and the importance of doing the weight loss properly, and the fact that you, your goal is to be the champion. You’re not taking last minute fights, which when I heard you articulate that, I was like, fuck, that’s some smart shit.
Jalin Turner (22:20):
Yeah, man, gotta be smart this time around, you know, I like I’ve, I’ve grown, I’ve adapted a lot, you know of, I just, it’s just, you know, just certain levels you wanna reach, you know, and, and you have to do like, just move, move accordingly. You know, I, I can’t be taking crazy fights and risking, risking a loss at this point. Like, like in my heart and soul, like, yeah, I do it. I take a short notice fight, like, like, but is it smart? No. Like, so I’ve had that like instilled in my brain too, uh, listening to my coaches and my corners, uh, and my management. So, um, yeah, I gotta gotta do everything right.
Sevan Matossian (23:00):
A week a week before your fight, this last fight, by the way, your last two fights, man, the, the, the other guys were, had the total hype train.
Jalin Turner (23:08):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (23:08):
Malarkey and, and Riddel like, they were getting all the screen time and all the hype and, and, and, and the malarkey fight was, I was scared for you a little bit. <laugh>. I mean, he just looked like he was born to fight
Jalin Turner (23:19):
<laugh>
Sevan Matossian (23:19):
And you had to light him up.
Jalin Turner (23:22):
Yeah. I, I always knew he was tough. Um, we were supposed to fight it like a couple years back, actually. So that’s why I wanted to get that one in.
Sevan Matossian (23:29):
Yeah. He, he looks like he fell out of him with like his face was made to punch <laugh>. Right. I mean, he looks like a fighter. Some dudes just look that way.
Jalin Turner (23:38):
Yeah. He, he definitely has a fighter to look.
Sevan Matossian (23:41):
Um, and, and this fight a week before your fight, you hyperextended your,
Jalin Turner (23:45):
Yeah. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (23:46):
What does that mean? Does that mean like your elbow, like my arm goes straight here. Your arm started going that way a little bit.
Jalin Turner (23:51):
Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty bad. It actually still, it still hurts. Like I’m, I’m waiting to figure out what’s going on. We, uh, we already got it checked on, so I’m just waiting to hear it back. But yeah, I was doing some grappling. Um,
Sevan Matossian (24:04):
Can you tell me with who so I can put him on the asshole list?
Jalin Turner (24:09):
Uh, what’s his, um, <laugh>, what’s his name? I think his name’s Ian, his name’s Ian, uh, it’s uh, little rester dude, train at millennium with me, but, um, I gotta,
Sevan Matossian (24:18):
Are you mad at him? Should he have known better? Is it his fault?
Jalin Turner (24:21):
No, man.
Sevan Matossian (24:22):
Are you like yo dickhead? I got a fight next week. What
Jalin Turner (24:24):
Are you doing? No, it was, it was actually like, like the whole situation was, it was like a crazy, like a quick, crazy scramble. So it was like, like, it happened like the, like a split second. And it was, it was, it was a, he did a legit move, but it’s just what I did at the same time as he was doing the move. So I had him in a, in a, in a, I had him pretty much in an Anaconda choke. Right. And I’m, I’m spending, trying to finish it. And I was like, man, I’m not gonna, like, I’m not gonna keep this up. So I opened, like, I, I broke the grip and I, I went Gabe, well, I went here and then, um, he went for an arm drag cause I had his arm. I had his, had his head. So he went for an arm drag.
Jalin Turner (25:00):
So he grabs my arm and he pulls my arm and he is trying to drag me to the ground to take my back. And as he’s doing that, I feel him moving. I, so I feel him do that. So I get up, I literally like stand up cause we’re, we’re like a, like knees on the ground. I stand up and I pull my arm back to, uh, before he tries to get the drag. But as, as I pull my arm away, he catches my glove. He catches like the end of my wrist and uh, had bricks in my arm and it just popped and I was, it, it hurt pretty bad. It was, it was a crazy little exchange. He literally like split seconds. So
Sevan Matossian (25:33):
You stop. Did you guys stop right away?
Jalin Turner (25:34):
Oh yeah. I stopped. I was, I was, I was screaming <laugh> yeah, it was crazy.
Sevan Matossian (25:41):
Hey, so, so this, this thing here, whatever this thing is probably got stretched out a little bit.
Jalin Turner (25:47):
Yeah. So it’s like, it’s like all in here.
Sevan Matossian (25:50):
Yeah.
Jalin Turner (25:51):
Like here and then like in here and, and I already have like, like tight bicep tendon. So like my arms don’t really stretch that far. Like this is like maximum range for me. So that hyper extension, like really, like, it really did, did a good job on me.
Sevan Matossian (26:09):
And, and as you step into the ring with Brad, um, do you remember thinking about your arm at all?
Jalin Turner (26:16):
Um, I thought about it. I thought about the week it happened. Um,
Sevan Matossian (26:20):
I was, but I mean, literally as you’re ending the cage, does that shit just go away or?
Jalin Turner (26:24):
Yeah, by that time, I’m not even, I’m not even thinking about it. I’m just like, I gotta, like once I start walking out, I all that goes outta my brain. Like, I’m I gotta go do my job.
Sevan Matossian (26:37):
A, uh, and the reason why it’s so fascinating to me is because part of you wants to be really cautious. You, you like, you have a nice car and you only want to drive it fast on the track. Right. Like, you know that you’re destined for greatness. You don’t want to crash this shit fucking like going to the gas station, but yet you still put yourself, you still took this fight.
Jalin Turner (26:54):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (26:54):
And, and it was on a huge card.
Jalin Turner (26:56):
Yeah. It was, it was too much. Uh, it was, it was more to gain than the risk. So, you know, I kinda weighed that and you know, my coach also like put it in my mind too, cuz they were like, well, you know, like if you’re able, you should, but if you wanna pull out like what really? The big key that helped me is, um, my coach Ozzie, cuz he’s also, he was a fighter at one point too. And he said he had, he had fought with, uh, with strained hamstrings and pulled hamstrings. And once he said, you know what? Like I fought with, like I fought with that. And as soon as like when the octagon and the adrenaline kicked in, like I was able to, um, you know, overcome the pain, didn’t feel it. So once he put like, once he like gave me that
Sevan Matossian (27:39):
I love it. He doesn’t tell you it’s gonna be better. He says, you’ll have adrenaline. That’ll make the video
Jalin Turner (27:43):
Away. <laugh> so I I’ve thought of that. I was like, okay. Like, like as long as that’s like, it, it kicks in like, I’ll be good. Like I’ll be okay. You know? Cause I was like, once I was able to start like punching with it and like feeling the impact on it and I could handle that. I was like, okay, now we’re getting somewhere and then grappling and kind of like, uh, it took a little while for me to like be comfortable grappling with it. There’s like certain, certain moves and positions. I couldn’t do like anything that like pushed my arm back. I would <laugh> I would like, like, I’d be in a lot of pain.
Sevan Matossian (28:14):
Did you feel it at all during the fight were a few times like, oh I’m not doing that.
Jalin Turner (28:19):
No, I didn’t even get, I didn’t even get to that. We didn’t even get in any exchange or any,
Sevan Matossian (28:23):
Anything 45 seconds. And it was just over
Jalin Turner (28:26):
Yeah, man. Such a blessing in disguise. Right. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (28:28):
Yeah. And he had no idea you’re hurt, right?
Jalin Turner (28:32):
No. Honestly like majority of the time, like maybe like 80% of the time when you fight somebody something’s bothering them, you know? Like that’s just how, that’s the name of the game, you know? And that’s why people are like, oh, when are you gonna fight again? I’m like, like you did, like you had a 45 minute or 45 second finish. You didn’t get touched. I’m like, it’s not about the fight. Sometimes it’s about the training camp. Like that’s where all the injuries and the ailments come from is from just dealing with the, the onsite of continuously training and wearing tear and the mental, mental rollercoaster. Just a lot.
Sevan Matossian (29:03):
What’s the most you ever weighed in your life? You ever broke 200?
Jalin Turner (29:07):
No, I’ve never broke 200. The most I ever weighed in my life was 1 93. And I was like during lockdown. Cause I was just sitting on the couch, eating, playing call duty and doing nothing.
Sevan Matossian (29:16):
Um, did you do that stuff? Did you participate in, in the, uh, in the pandemic stuff? I, I know LA was, I know some cities were like really participating.
Jalin Turner (29:25):
Um, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (29:25):
Or were you kinda like, fuck you I’ll do what I want.
Jalin Turner (29:28):
I did. I did participate for a little bit. And then I, then after I was like, fuck you. Like, I was like, I’m not, I’m not gonna keep doing this shit. Like I gotta live my life. I’m going outside. Um, I’m taking my kids outside. We’re not gonna be cool them in the house all the time. But, but yeah, like I was, I think I just got off, like I just wanna fight too, like right at like right before that happened and yeah. So I was like, I was already chilling and I was really chilling. I was like, oh, I don’t have to do anything. I was like, cool. Like, okay.
Sevan Matossian (29:54):
It, it it’s weird. My kids do, uh, jujitsu. And that was one of the places like that. Didn’t shut down and it was so.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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