Outside Source
Turner abruptly retired at 29 years of age earlier this year after consecutive stoppage losses. “The Tarantula” claimed he was battling mental health issues and lost the drive to fight. However, Turner’s retirement was short-lived as he returned to action at UFC 323 against Edson Barboza on Saturday. Turner returned to the win column with a first-round stoppage win over Barboza (24-14).
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Turner subsequently revealed that he followed a religious path, abstaining from all sins during his time off. Turner expressed his gratitude to UFC veteran Cub Swanson for helping him return to action.
“I actually sought a lot of help from Cub Swanson,” Turner said at his post-fight press conference. “He helped me. He told me, ‘Hey, you know, when you sign up for this, all those nerves are gonna come back, all those feelings are gonna come back. But you go in there, you get one win, you can change the tide of everything.’ So he was a big support as far as fighters went.”
Seeing the Light
Despite retiring, Turner (15-9) helped Ian Garry as a cornerman against Carlos Prates this past April. Turner revealed that he also saw a “light” while working with Garry and his team. While Turner wasn’t too motivated to return while watching Garry fight, he went back to the gym soon after.
“When I went to go help Ian Garry, it was so good,” Turner said. “Being around his family, being around his team, feeling the love that was radiating from everybody… His son is awesome. It just showed me a light. They really told me that I should put away all the distractions because I’m too talented and too good to hang it up now… When I was in his corner and I was watching him fight, I was like, ‘I definitely don’t want to do that again.’… And lo and behold, after that, I got back in the gym.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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