Jalin Turner steps in to fight Bobby Green at UFC Austin

Bobby Green was scheduled to take on Dan Hooker at UFC Austin on Dec. 2 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.  Hooker was forced out of the fight due to an arm injury.  

UFC President Dana White made the announcement on Thanksgiving in a video posted to X.  

“I’ve got a couple of fight announcements for you,” said White.  “For the Dec. fight here in Austin, Texas, Dan Hooker broke the same arm that he did in his last fight, so he’s out, so No. 13 ranked Bobby Green will now face No. 12 ranked Jalin Turner in the co-main event, and it’s going to be three rounds instead of five.”

Some Thanksgiving fight announcements. Happy Thanksgiving everybody! pic.twitter.com/wNDkaxQ0nB

— danawhite (@danawhite) November 23, 2023

Green enters the bout coming off back-to-back finishes over Tony Ferguson and Grant Dawson.  Turner is coming off back-to-back split decision losses to Dan Hooker and Mateusz Gamrot.  

“I took a risk, it came back a little quicker. It’s all on me. I rushed to come back. I wanted to fight. I knew the risk of coming back quickly. We rolled the dice and come up snake eyes, baby,” Hooker said about the injury. “Just was sparring, just probably one of those things. I blocked a thousand kicks in the last couple of months and one just hit, one hit on the right spot and just, yeah, it is what it is.” 

Fourth-ranked lightweight Beneil Dariush and eighth ranked Arman Tsarukyan headline the fight card.