Chris Daukaus is finally pulling the trigger on a move to light heavyweight.
Hopefully for him, it goes better than a recent drop in weight by one of Daukaus’ former heavyweight colleagues.
Daukaus (12-6) will face Khalil Rountree Jr. (11-5, 1NC) on June 10, 2023 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C. as part of UFC 289. Promotion officials recently announced the bout via press release.
The 33-year old Daukaus joined the UFC in 2020, winning his first four fights in the heavyweight division and improving his overall record to 12-3. Despite being looked at as somewhat undersized for the division, that early success meant it took a trio of stoppage losses against three of the bigger big men in Derrick Lewis, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and Curtis Blaydes to finally convince Daukaus to make the cut to 205lbs.
Rountree, who at one point back in 2020 had openly pondered retirement, has won three straight fights. Most recently, he earned a split decision over Dustin Jacoby.
UFC 289 is set to be headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight, with the rubber match between champ Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena closing the show. The following match-ups have been reported for the card thus far:
- Amanda Nunes (c) vs. Julianna Peña — for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship
- Charles Oliveira vs. Beneil Dariush
- Stephen Thompson vs. Michel Pereira
- Miranda Maverick vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
- Eryk Anders vs. Marc-André Barriault
- Diana Belbiţă vs. Maria Oliveira
- Blake Bilder vs. Kyle Nelson
- Matt Schnell vs. David Dvorak
- Dan Ige vs. Nate Landwehr
- Hakeem Dawodu vs. Lucas Almeida
- Aiemann Zahabi vs. Aori Qileng
- Chris Curtis vs. Nassourdine Imavov
- Chris Daukaus vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.
