Prospect Report: Jai Herbert

Jai Herbert is the current Cage Warriors lightweight champion. Having turned professional in 2015, Herbert compiled a record of 10-1 with his sole loss coming to another prospect, Rhys McKee. All but one of Herbert’s wins have come inside the distance with 9 of them being by T/KO. Training out of Team Renegade in Birmingham, Herbert is part of one of the best teams in the UK and shares the gym with top fighters such as Tom Breese, Leon Edwards, Fabian Edwards and Mathias Frederick.

Strengths

Range Striking

Herbert’s bread and butter is his striking at range. Due to his lanky frame and reach, Herbert is able to find a safe distance from which he can pick apart his opponents. Herbert prefers to utilise straight punches and tends to mix up the rhythm to keep his opponents guessing. The Wolverhampton native is at his best when he is in the centre of the cage pressuring his opponents back. When his opponents run out of space to back into he tends to find them at the end of his punches which maximises his power. Herbert was able to showcase his striking in his title win against Jack Grant as picked him apart for three rounds with straight punches before getting the T/KO.

Clinch Striking

As is the case with many tall fighters, Herbert also likes to clinch. His frame allows him to posture in the clinch and utilises his knees. His clinch game was on full display against both Steve O’Keefe and Cain Carrisoza. In the O’Keefe fight, the finish was more rushed as Herbert was trying to make up for lost time before the end of the round and unload with a barrage of knees against the cage. Whilst in the Carrisoza fight, “The Black Country Banger” was much more patient and kept picking Carrisoza apart in the clinch before finding a knee that knocked the UFC veteran out.

Composure

As previously mentioned, Hebert is a finisher. However, he doesn’t tend to chase the finish, instead, he picks his opponent apart until he the finish comes to him. In his title win against Jack Grant, Herbert had a lot of success with his straight punches from the beginning, despite visibly stunning Grant on several occasions, Herbert didn’t rush in for the finish and leave himself open to a counter strike or a takedown. Herbert continued to pick Grant apart until the referee stepped in. The same can be said about the Carrisoza fight where Herbert was able to score an early knockdown but proceeded to methodically work towards the finish rather chasing it. On the other hand, Herbert also knows when to pour it on, in the fight against Steve O’Keefe, he was losing the round on the ground but was able to hurt his opponent with just over a minute left and poured on in the offence to get the stoppage.

Weaknesses

Pressure

Despite being a high-level striker offensively, Herbert tends to struggle when put on the back foot. Although not many opponents were able to do it, his loss to Rhys McKee happened when Herbert had his back against the cage and didn’t have his hands up as he tried to circle out. In some of his other fights, Herbert also looked uncomfortable when put on the back foot but was able to change the dynamic of the fight quickly. This is an issue that a lot of tall strikers tend to have, often relying on their height too much and end up being caught when their opponent is able to step into close range.

Takedown Defence

Again an issue that is familiar to tall fighters. Herbert has shown susceptibility to a relentless wrestling game when he faced Steve O’Keefe who had a lot of success taking him down as well as advancing to mount from top position. Although Herbert was able to escape mount and knock O’Keefe out in the first round, there were clear gaps in his takedown defence. A similar problem was seen in his fight vs Jack Grant, a fight that Herbert dominated in the striking. However, Grant was still able to take Herbert down several times and again get to mount. It would unfair to say that Herbert doesn’t have a ground game as he stays composed when put in tough positions and tends to not take a lot of damage before escaping. Furthermore, he has shown some good takedowns and top control of his own in his fight vs Erdi Karatas.

Overall

Jai Herbert is a very exciting striker and is the current Cage Warriors lightweight champion, those two things combined likely mean that the UFC will offer him a contract soon. His long term future in the promotion is interesting. I don’t think that he would become a title contender due to the weaknesses we have discussed, however, he has a great chance of becoming a fan favourite due to his exciting style. I believe that his success in a top promotion will come down to the matchmaking. If he is matched up against other strikers then I believe that Herbert can put together a good win streak and maybe get a ranking. However, if he is matched up with grinding wrestlers then he might struggle to live up to his potential. Win or lose, Herbert brings excitement when he fights which will definitely buy him good faith with the matchmakers and fans alike.