Jai Herbert outlasts Kyle Nelson, wins unanimous decision at UFC London
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, July 23, 2022, for UFC Fight Night 208, going down live from the o2 Arena in London, England.
Headlining the event is a heavyweight clash of contenders between no. 4 Curtis Blaydes (16-3) and no. 6 Tom Aspinall (12-2), and co-headlining is a middleweight contest between Jack Hermansson (22-7) and Chris Curtis (29-8).
Early on in the preliminary card came a lightweight contest between Jai Herbert (11-4) and Kyle Nelson (13-4).
Each of these talents come into this bout having gone 1-3 thus far into their UFC tenures. They both picked up TKO victories in their lone win, and both have been finished in all three defeats (both two knockouts and one submission).
With that many parallels going into this fight, this is a great job of matchmaking!
Continue reading to see how this 155 lb encounter went down:
Official Result: Jai Herbert def. Kyle Nelson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Both talents start out the bout looking pretty sharp; Herbert’s striking is always technically sound, he’s landing some nice kicks to the leg and body of Nelson, and Nelson is returning some nice, accurate kicks of his own.
Nelson presses Herbert into the fence in search of a takedown, but is unable to secure it, and he gets reversed and pressed into the fence himself before they’re back to striking range.
After out-striking Herbert quite significantly in the opening round, the second is much closer in striking totals, as Herbert is able to spend a portion of the round pressing Nelson into the fence, landing his beautiful knees to the body.
This is a close, competitive fight going into the third.
Nelson comes out an attempts a takedown to start the third and final round, ending up on his back as a result.
Herbert remains on top of Nelson until the final 30 seconds or so of the bout, where he’s able to get up and press Herbert into the fence until the final bell, marking the first time either talent has gone the distance inside the octagon.
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