Las Vegas, NV — The UFC has another pair of fighting brothers in Chris and Kyle Daukaus.
That’s as of Saturday night, when heavyweight Chris Daukaus made a successful debut in the octagon, knocking out Parker Porter. “It’s kind of surreal. Me and my brother have been working for this, this moment, and just getting to the UFC for the past ten years,” Daukaus (9-3) said following his UFC 252 bout on Saturday.
His brother’s debut a month ago, a short-notice, spirited loss to Brendan Allen, was on Chris Daukaus’ mind ahead of his debut. “I feel like I had to make good. I didn’t want him to do so good, and then just me kind of sh*t the bed. So I was kind of just trying to prove to everyone that this is what we can do, and what we should be doing.”
Like many up-and-coming fighters, Chris Daukaus has a day job: he’s a police officer. Which means he has two high pressure, high profile roles.
“It’s different, but it’s the same. You compartmentalize certain things,” said of his dual careers. “Like you have to be able to take all the good emotions and all the bad emotions and make do, and make sure you perform. In both jobs. Make sure you perform in the UFC, make sure you perform out on the street as a police officer.”
The goal, however, is to transition to fighting full time, in the long term. “Me and my wife have been talking about this since we started dating,” he admitted. It’s always been the plan, he told media outlets including Cageside Press, to fight full time. The trick, Daukaus stated, is to “make it to this level and to stay at this level and be here, which is the hard part.” That’s something no one tells you, he continued. “The work has just begun, ask my brother, from here on out is where everything starts kicking off.”
He’s on his way now. “It’s crazy to realize that ten to twelve years ago, we started out with this dream, and now it’s here,” Daukaus observed later. And after taking on two dangerous jobs as a first responder and fighter, the heavyweight credits his mother for the success of himself and brother Kyle.
“We’re as tough as we are strictly because of her leading by example. So mom, we appreciate you and we love you.”
Watch the full UFC 252 post-fight press conference with Chris Daukaus above.
