AUSTIN, Texas – Many fighters raised their hands hoping to land a short-notice fight against [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag] this week.
Yet none of them got the call. Instead, [autotag]Jalin Turner[/autotag], who wasn’t angling for a fight with Green, was inserted into the matchup.
Turner (13-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) meets Green (31-14-1 MMA, 12-9-1 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 52 co-main event Saturday at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Turner replaced Dan Hooker, who was forced out of the ESPN-broadcast co-feature due to an arm injury.
“The Tarantula” kept it honest at Wednesday’s media day for UFC on ESPN 52, saying he originally declined the fight, but was then pressured to take it.
“I feel like I didn’t have a choice not to take it,” Turner said.
Turner said he was offered more money in the original offer, so that wasn’t a factor in not wanting to take the fight. He said he then got a second call on which he was given little opportunity to have no be an acceptable answer.
Given opponents publicly willing to fight Green on short notice included Terrance McKinney, former champion Rafael dos Anjos and Jared Gordon, Turner isn’t sure why the UFC was so keen on having him fight Green.
“I’m trying to figure out the same damn thing, because I wasn’t saying nothing,” Turner said. “I was like, ‘Ah, go ahead. Let somebody else handle it.’
“I think it’s just because I’m ranked. They want somebody in the rankings, and who else is really saying something? Terrance said something, but he’s not in the rankings, so they probably didn’t want to do that. Shoot, I think I heard RDA’s name thrown in there, but he wasn’t going to make the weight. Jared Gordon, he stepped up, too? Man, they should’ve made that fight. Why throw me in there?”
Regardless, Turner doesn’t hate that he’s fighting Saturday on short notice. He’s determined to get a win against Green and hopes the UFC awards him with a big name next for stepping up.
“I was trying to say (to the UFC) we’re from the same area – I respect him. And they said that we’re putting this together,” Turner said. “At the same time, they know it’s going to be a banger fight because we’ve both got nice styles. I respect it.
“At the end of the day, it’s business, and I’m going to go out there as a businessman and handle mine. I’ll do that time and time again, and every single time. That’s what it is. They always know they can call me, but sometimes you have to stick back and assess certain things. It is what it is.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.