Jalin Turner vs. Dan Hooker: UFC 290 Odds, Prediction

The lone lightweight bout on the stacked UFC 290 main card Saturday from Las Vegas features Jalin Turner taking on Dan Hooker.

Turner is a -275 favourite on the MMA odds and Hooker is +200.

Jalin Turner -270
Dan Hooker +195

Jalin Turner UFC 290 Odds

The 28-year-old Turner, who fights out of California, is 13-6 in a pro career dating to 2016. Islam Makhachev is the UFC lightweight champion and Turner is ranked 11th.

“The Tarantula” had arachnophobia growing up and to overcome that fear began to collect tarantulas as pets. When he made his UFC debut he had 200 of them, earning his ring nickname. Turner had a five-fight winning streak snapped in his last trip to the Octagon in March at UFC 285, a split decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot. Turner was to originally fight Hooker at UFC 285, but Hooker withdrew due to injury and was replaced by Gamrot, who used his wrestling skills to combat Turner’s reach advantage.

The 6-foot-3 Turner has a reach of 77 inches and the southpaw’s fights average 6:46. He lands 5.63 significant strikes per minute with 46 per cent accuracy and absorbs 3.79 with 43 per cent defence. His takedown average is 0.89 with 66 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 74 per cent. Turner has nine wins by KO/TKO and four by submission. His losses have been split equally between the judges and a KO/TKO.

With his huge reach and height, Turner prefers to keep fights standing up as he has good footwork and can control real estate inside the Octagon. For Saturday, his favoured method of victory is by KO/TKO/DQ at +200 and submission at +200, followed by points at +450. A draw is +5000. That he’s able to win in Round 1 is +110.

Dan Hooker UFC 290 Odds

The 33-year-old Hooker, from New Zealand, is 22-12 in a pro career dating to 2009 and ranked 12th in the lightweight division. He was a former King in the Ring middleweight kickboxing champion and WKBF X-Rules welterweight champion.

“The Hangman” last fought in November 2022 and beat Claudio Puelles by second-round TKO (body kick) to snap a two-fight losing streak. As noted above, he was then to fight Turner at UFC 285 but injured his hand and had to withdraw. Hooker still thinks he can get a title shot eventually with a win Saturday.

“It definitely puts me back in the mix,” Hooker said. “A win like that over Turner, you are back in the top 10, you are back in the mix. People are back on the bandwagon. That is the beauty of this sport. You can change your life in a single night and that’s the way I feel things are going here. I’m just excited for that, I’m excited for the contest. I’m excited for how everyone responds to it. I already know how it’s going to go. There is no question in mind how this night goes.”

The 6-foot Hooker has a reach of 75 inches and his fights average 9:44. He lands 4.83 significant strikes per minute with 47 per cent accuracy and absorbs 4.61 with 51 per cent defence. Hooker’s takedown average is 0.85 per 15 minutes with 36 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 81 per cent.

Hooker has 11 wins by KO/TKO, seven by submission and four by decision with six losses by the judges, three by submission and three by KO/TKO. For Saturday, Hooker is +450 to win by decision, +600 by KO/TKO/DQ and +1600 for submission. The over-under for total rounds is 1.5 with the over a slight favourite. That it goes the distance is +200 with no at -301.