Matt Maher: Wolverhampton UFC star Jai Herbert fights to be a better man

One was a decade ago, when he walked into the gym down the road from his then Low Hill home and began a remarkable journey in mixed martial arts which will hit another peak tomorrow night, in front of 20,000 fans as the UFC makes its long-awaited return to London’s O2 Arena.

But surely the most significant turning point came several years before when, at the age of 17, he was stabbed in the face.

Kicked out of school, unemployed and by his own admission hanging around with the wrong crowd, Herbert’s life was close to spiralling out of control.

“I was getting myself involved in madness,” he explains. “I got into an altercation, a fight and got stabbed in the face.

“It only just missed my eye. I lost a lot of blood. My life was never in any danger but I was in hospital for several days. It was a wake-up call.”

Herbert credits his dad, David, with helping him get back on the right track.

“I hadn’t seen my dad for some time before that incident because he’d been working away,” he says. “He came back and sorted me out straight away. I went to stay with him and he got me a job. There was no way he was going to let me continue down that path. I owe him so much.”

Working as a scaffolder gave Herbert stability but he admits life still lacked direction until he spotted a poster for MMA classes outside Ikon Martial Arts club. From the first session, he knew he had finally found his calling.

“I just thought I would give it a go,” he says. “I’d found myself in the cycle of going to work and then going out at the weekends, getting drunk and then going back to work on Monday. I didn’t have any direction or drive.

“I’d seen MMA on TV and thought it would be good for fitness, something different. So I went into the gym and asked and the rest is history.”

Herbert’s ascent since that moment has been little short of astonishing. Just seven years after making his debut as an amateur, he received an offer to join the UFC, having won the world lightweight title in the prestigious Cage Warriors series in 2019.

“I took to it straight away and I was very hard working from the start,” he says. “The coach at Ikon used to put us through some really tough training and cardio sessions. But I was always there, I never stopped until it was time to finish the session.

“My work ethic has just shone through. I just think this is what I was meant to do.

“To have my first amateur fight at the age of 24, which is quite late really, and to get called into the UFC by the time I was 31. I don’t think that is bad going really. It’s something I am very proud of.”

Without doubt it is a tremendous achievement, made all the more impressive by the fact for years Herbert juggled a gruelling training regime around a full-time job.

“I didn’t give up being a scaffolder until I signed with the UFC,” he explains. “Before that, when I won Cage Warriors, all through my career, I was working full-time.

“If I had a big fight coming up I would maybe have a day off in the week so I could train twice a day.

“But I’d have to book that off, take it as annual leave. It was all for the right purpose because I knew I was going to get to the UFC.

“I feel like it was always meant to be. It sounds silly but I remember being younger and knowing I had a purpose. I knew I was going to be special, I just didn’t know at what. I remember shadow boxing in the mirror and wondering if I could be a fighter. OK, I started late but look where I am now.”

Herbert, who now trains at the Renegade Jiu-Jitsu club in Birmingham, is the only fighter from Wolverhampton to ever appear in the UFC. His first two years as part of the world’s largest MMA promotions company has been akin to a baptism of fire, one news website recently nicknaming his list of opponents ‘Murderers Row’.

After defeats in his opening two bouts against the experienced Francisco Trinaldo and Renato Moicano, Herbert travelled to Las Vegas for October’s fight with Khama Worthy knowing it was pretty much make-or-break.

A first round knockout win eased pressure and restored confidence and the 33-year-old will face highly-rated Illian Topuria in London tomorrow aiming to make it two in a row. With the bout scheduled to take place around 8pm, live on BT Sport, the man who could reasonably call describe himself as Wolverhampton’s best kept sporting secret is ready to properly announce his arrival on the world stage.

“This is the moment I am going to make my name in the UFC,” he says. “I know this is only my fourth fight but I want to really get some momentum going, so people know who I am.

“That is what I think this fight will show and I will start getting the recognition I deserve.

“All I want to do is put on a show, for my fans and for my hometown. This sport is a constant pursuit of perfection. Of course, you can never get there. There’s always something to learn, something to improve. But it drives me on.”

It promises to be an emotional night. Herbert’s first three UFC fights all took place behind closed doors and the crowd at the O2 will include his mum, dad, sisters and his fiancé Jaye, herself a former MMA professional. The pair had a son, Nico, shortly after Herbert made his UFC bow in summer 2020, another of those life-changing moments.

“It’s a challenge, the sleepless nights,” says Herbert. “But I love him to pieces. He’s made me a better person and got me even more focused on being a better human.”

Proud of his journey so far but hungry to keep going, you really wouldn’t bet against Herbert achieving his dreams. But whatever his future inside the Octagon, outside it he’s long proven himself a winner.

“There are times when you might think your life is going nowhere,” he says. “But find something you want to do, find something which gives you that drive and just go for it. You never know what can happen.”