Not every nickname has a good story behind it, but Jalin Turner’s does.
For “The Tarantula,” it’s simple. The UFC lightweight owns spiders – and has for quite some time. However, his collection is not what it used to be. Originally, Turner (8-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC) purchased his first spider in order to conquer his fear of the eight-legged creatures.
Before long, his arachnophobia turned into an addiction. At one point, Turner’s collection expanded to more than 200 spiders. He began shopping, exchanging, and breeding them.
These days, his collection has dwindled. However, Turner hopes to return his colony to its prime form after his UFC on ESPN+ 26 fight Saturday against Josh Culibao.
“I have three right now,” Turner told MMA Junkie. “I used to have a little bit of a fear of spiders, and I just got over it by buying a pet tarantula. I was like, ‘Let me just try this out and see how it is.’ It broke my fear, it became a super cool pet, and I fell in love with it. Then I was like, ‘Man, I want to get more.’
“Honestly, it became such a strong hobby. I started trading them, selling them, and breeding them. I made money off of them for a while, but it became difficult with training – just having so many. I had up to like 200-plus at one point. I just focused on fighting and cut my collection down. After this fight, I want to get some more.”
Rebuilding his collection will seem even sweeter if he can pick up a victory Saturday night. The lengthy California-based fighter originally was slated to fight Jamie Mullarkey at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, but he now faces short-notice replacement Culibao (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
The fight marks the first time Turner has competed since having knee surgery. While the recovery process was trying, Turner thinks it played right into him. He’s been trying to improve his mental toughness.
“It tested me a little bit, you know?” Turner said. “Not too much because it wasn’t that bad of a layoff. I was still able to bounce around and do normal things, but I always want to be in the gym. I always want to be training. I always want to be doing something active. I want to focus more on my mental strength than my physical strength, so that helped me out a little bit.”
Turner thinks his size advantage will be insurmountable for Culibao, who usually competes at featherweight. Turner expects Culibao to become flustered and make a mistake. That’s when, Turner said, he’ll pounce.
“He’s the teammate of Mullarkey, who I was originally supposed to fight,” Turner said. “I’m sure (Culibao) was training with him, helping him get ready anyways. I think he’s in shape and ready to go. … I see a lot of tactical movement. I see a lot of sticking and moving. I see him getting desperate, doing something crazy, and me taking his head off.”
UFC on ESPN+ 26 takes place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. The event streams on ESPN+.
Jalin Turner, the UFC's Spider-Man, plans to rebuild his arachnids collection that once reached 200
