London, England — UFC London lightweight Jai Herbert will be competing in the British capital for the fourth straight occasion this Saturday when he takes on Fares Ziam.
Despite spending his entire career at 155lbs, however, Herbert (12-4-1) has plenty of insight into the current featherweight title picture. After all, it was just last year that he shared the cage with Ilia Topuria — who is potentially next in line for a title shot at 145 pounds.
So how will Topuria fare against dominant featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski?
“I think Volk is probably up there, I think he’s pound-for-pound number one,” Herbert stated during Thursday’s UFC London media day, speaking to journalists including Cageside Press. “I watched his last fight against Yair [Rodriguez]. He makes really great fighters look not as good as him, basically. I think Ilia would probably do well but I think Volk is just on another level at the minute.”
Volkanovski has not only dominated his own weight class, but earlier this year moved to lightweight, pushing 155 pound champ Islam Makhachev to the brink. There’s plenty of interest in a rematch, though Makhachev was just announced as fighting Charles Oliveira next.
“I think it’s great he’s out there challenging himself, just chasing greatness, trying to be featherweight champion, lightweight champion,” Herbert noted. “The lightweight fight when he fought against Islam was really close, he did really well. I’m excited to see the rematch as well if he decides to take that.”
Asked how he thinks the rematch goes, Herbert replied by saying that “I think maybe Volk gets the win, because he was really close last time. But you can never say, because Islam might work on something else and come back there and get the win. But it was a really close match-up and a great fight, I’m excited to watch that again.”
As for his own fight this weekend with Fares Ziam, Herbert is excited to face another stand-up fighter. “I’d seen him before on one of the UFC cards, so I did sort of know who we was. Good striker, but I’m confident in my own striking ability, so I’m going to go out there and get the win.”
That should put him past the disappointment he had with a recent draw with L’udovit Klein. Though he’s not dwelling on that result, which came with a point deduction due to low blows.
“I’m just happy with the performance. I’ve just moved on from it now. I look back at the fight, and I’m just happy with the performance. The result, it is what it is and all I can do is look at the performance and take confidence form that.”
Watch the full UFC London media day appearance by Jai Herbert above.
