Vicente Luque might have been a little overshadowed by the debuting Jalin Turner heading into UFC 229, but he made his presence felt within a round, capitalizing on a rooking mistake by the debuting fighter and knocking him out cold.
Contender Series alum Jalin Turner made his UFC debut at UFC 229 in Las Vegas on Saturday. There, ‘The Tarantula’ met Vicente Luque in welterweight action. That meant Turner, a 6″3 lightweight, was moving up in weight for the bout. Not only be that, but he’d be tasked with stopping a much more experienced fighter in Luque, who was on a two-fight win streak heading into the event. Luque, it should be added, was stepping in short notice.
Turner was plenty active early in this televised prelim fight. He led with his jab, throwing a number of 1-2 combinations. Luque was game, pressing forward, and about ninety seconds in, managed to tag Turner. He’d follow up with a combination; the pair then traded kicks. As the round wore on, Turner got his creativity going, throwing out a spinning back kick and launching a flying knee. Luque stood right there with him, however, walking his opponent down. Turner would then unleash a spinning back elbow that completely backfired. Luque unloaded with a punch as Turner spun around, dropping him. Follow-up strikes put Turner out cold, and Vicente Luque had his third straight win, and third straight finish.
The spinning elbow landed, but Luque ate it, then delivered the finishing blows.#UFC229 pic.twitter.com/Bdn6RUV8o8
— UFC (@ufc) October 7, 2018
After the bout, Luque told Joe Rogan that he wanted to be ranked. More, he was done calling out top fifteen fighters, as he felt ready for the top ten of the weight class. Following his performance against Turner on Saturday, he may very well find himself ranked come the next update later in the week. And despite Turner’s rookie status, it’s hard to argue against Luque.
Vicente Luque def. Jalin Turner by knockout, Round 1, 3:52
