Jalin
Turner's recent win marked the start of a new
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract.

Turner took on Kaue
Fernandes in a lightweight tilt at UFC
330. “The Tarantula†took just 39 seconds to finish Fernandes,
earning a $100k performance bonus for his knockout win. Turner now
has four fights left on his current deal and recently revealed
whether he wanted to test free agency after his last contract ran
out.

Jalin Turner signed a five-fight UFC deal after his previous
contract expired

Turner's previous contract expired with his knockout win over
Edson
Barboza last December. Notably, that bout marked his Octagon
return after a brief retirement. Beating Barboza in the first round
warranted a new deal in the eyes of the promotion and Turner
subsequently signed a five-fight contract.

“My deal was up,†Turner told Ariel Helwani. “Barboza was the last
fight on my contract. So, I just signed a new five-fight deal with
the UFC.â€

Turner seemingly wasn’t too keen on free agency. He let his manager
handle offers from other promotions and negotiations with the UFC,
ultimately returning to the promotion.

“I let my manager handle all that,†Turner added. “I'm happy with
the UFC. I ain't saying nothing else about it. I mean I heard some
talks [about other offers]. But ultimately, the UFC came through;
they always come through. So, I'm still here. I'm happy. I can't
complain.â€

Turner (16-9) briefly retired from fighting following a loss to
Ignacio
Bahamondes last year. He claimed that he was emotionally
burdened by the idea of hurting others, especially after his
slugfest against Dan Hooker
and a vicious knockout of King Green.
However, Turner then came out of retirement with a changed mindset
and has since scored back-to-back first-round knockout wins.

Kamaru
Usman believes he is a dangerous stylistic matchup for Islam
Makhachev.

Makhachev put his
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title on the line
for the first time against Ian Garry at
UFC
330. While he retained his belt via unanimous decision, the
Dagestani champion was pushed to the limit and had to dig deep.
After his second welterweight bout, Usman claims he can beat
Makhachev if they were matched up.

Kamaru Usman backs his style against Islam Makhachev after UFC
330

While Usman acknowledges the new crop of contenders at
welterweight, the former champ believes he remains a serious threat
to Makhachev.

“There are really good guys coming up that are going to turn into
killers,†Usman said on the “Pound 4 Pound†podcast. “But right
now, being honest with you, with all the styles that I see and the
MMA mathematics… How it works out, I felt that, hey, styles make
fights, I'm telling you guys, I can get that done.â€

Usman was rallying for a title shot against Makhachev when the
latter dethroned Jack
Della Maddalena last November. Even Makhachev acknowledged “The
Nigerian Nightmare†as his biggest threat at the time. However,
Usman's lengthy Octagon hiatus saw contenders like Garry, Carlos
Prates and Michael
Morales overtake him in the pecking order at 170 pounds.

Usman (21-5) lost his welterweight title in a shock knockout upset
to Leon
Edwards in 2022 and lost the rematch the following year. Usman
then suffered a hard-fought majority-decision loss in a
middleweight bout against Khamzat
Chimaev.

The former champ then dropped back to welterweight and returned
after a 20-month hiatus to beat Joaquin
Buckley last year. After unsuccessfully rallying for a title
shot against Makhachev, Usman moved back up to middleweight and
suffered a unanimous decision loss against Dricus Du
Plessis.

Muhammad
Mokaev claims four elite opponents turned down a grappling
match against him.

Mokaev says he accepted four grappling bouts in a week against
former One
Championship titleholder Adriano
Moraes and
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights Asu
Almabayev, Alibi
Idiris and Ramazonbek
Temirov. He alleges that all four opponents agreed to fight
him, only to pull out the very next day.

Former UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev details a ‘crazy week' of
failed grappling matchups

Mokaev eventually secured a grappling matchup against Moris
Boleian. They will compete for the ACBJJ 60kg Grand Title on Aug.
30 at Ora Arena in Istanbul, Turkey.

“It was crazy week,†the former UFC flyweight wrote on X. “Signed
to compete 4 names in 1 week (Adriano Moraes, Asu Almabayev, Alibi
Idiris & Ramazan Temirov) And they all too but next day the didn't
want to. At the end only this guy accepted.â€

Mokaev (16-0) has finished three of his four MMA wins and one in
Karate Combat since his UFC exit in 2024. The undefeated flyweight
is also active on the grappling circuit, where he suffered a loss
against a much bigger Arman
Tsarukyan in his last match. Meanwhile, Boleian (8-1) has
finished all eight of his professional wins via submission before
suffering his lone career loss via split decision at UAE Warriors
this past January.

It was crazy week 😄
Signed to compete 4 names in 1 week (Adriano
Moraes, Asu
Almabayev, Alibi Idris & Ramazan Temirov)
And they all too but next day the didn't want to 🤷ðŸ»â€â™‚ï¸
At the end only this guy accepted pic.twitter.com/DHhUBxIAFe

— Muhammad
Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev)
August 17, 2026