Jalin Turner had announced his retirement earlier this year after feeling burnt out and suffering his fourth loss in five outings. After making some personal changes and incorporating religion into his life, Turner regained his passion for the sport and decided to make a comeback while he was still in his prime fighting years.
The 30-year-old lightweight returned to competition in the early portion of the preliminary card at UFC 323 Saturday in Las Vegas, where he earned a first-round technical knockout win over Edson Barboza.
Turner said in the lead-up to UFC 323 that he felt rejuvenated after taking some time away from active competition and looked it against Barboza as he overwhelmed his opponent with accurate, damaging strikes.
Turner is now 15-9 in MMA, with all 15 of his wins coming by either KO/TKO or submission.
Barboza, 39, is a 15-year UFC veteran who was competing in his 32nd UFC bout but is now on a three-fight losing streak and has lost five of his past seven overall.
A pair of recent Dana White Contender Series standouts, Iwo Baraniewski and Mansur Abdul-Malik, earned quick victories.
Baraniewski knocked out fellow 205-pounder Ibo Aslan in one of the most action-packed fights of the year, despite the fact it only lasted 89 seconds. The pair traded knockdowns as they brawled recklessly before Baraniewski landed a right hook and some ground-and-pound shots that ended the bout.
The 27-year-old from Poland improved to 7-0 in professional mixed martial arts, with all seven of his victories being by first-round stoppage. Baraniewski earned a UFC contract through the Contender Series in September with a 20-second knockout.
Abdul-Malik was the biggest betting favourite on the card and it showed as he submitted Antonio Trocoli in just 69 seconds with a standing guillotine choke.
The 28-year-old American is 9-0 with one no-contest as a pro and considered one of the top prospects in the UFC's 185-pound division. He earned a UFC contract during the 2024 season of the Contender Series.
In other early preliminary card action, the only two fighters who missed weight at Friday’s weigh-ins both got their hand raised.
Brunno Ferreira, who missed the middleweight limit by three pounds, won a unanimous decision over one-time title challenger Marvin Vettori.
In the first bout of the prelims, Mairon Santos defeated Muhammad Naimov via third-round knockout. The season 32 featherweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter had missed the featherweight limit by one and a half pounds.
Both Ferreira and Santos forfeited 20 per cent for not making their contracted weight.
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