Las Vegas, NV — It’s been a long time coming, but Chris Daukaus finally makes his move to the light heavyweight division this Saturday at UFC Vegas 78.
And he has a response for those who question his chin after being stopped in three straight heavyweight fights.
“Go get hit by Derrick Lewis and then Curtis Blaydes and then [Jairzinho] Rozenstruik, and then talk to me about whether you can take that kind of punishment anymore,” Daukaus (12-6) exclaimed during Thursday’s UFC Vegas 78 media day. “When realistically I was just like a fat 205’er, or if I want to be super serious, I’ve been talking to some people who said I could probably make 85— but I’m not going to make 85, I’m not pulling a Cannonier.”
Jared Cannonier, of course, infamously moved from heavyweight to light heavyweight to middleweight, where he challenged Israel Adesanya for gold. Daukaus is happy to stick with 205lbs, where he finds his power still intact — and his speed increased.
“My power has not been in my opinion compromised one bit,” Daukaus told Cageside Press. “You can ask any of my training partners right now, the guys in the back. Ask them. I don’t feel like my power has been compromised in one little but. My speed has grown, which is a little scary, but other than that, I feel like my technique, everything is right there. I’m ready to go.”
As far as making the move down in weight is concerned, Daukaus admitted that thoughts first crept in after his loss to Derrick Lewis. “After the Derrick Lewis fight, I was like ‘alright this needs to change,’ and then they offered me the Curtis Blaydes fight, I couldn’t really turn that down.” After losing to Blaydes, Daukaus made the decision to move to 205, “and then they offered me the Rozenstruik fight. And I was thinking in my head ‘he’s not Derrick Lewis big, he’s not that big. So it’ll be just like a skill-set type thing, going against him.'”
Rozenstruik, however, didn’t go as expected, and while Daukaus was following his team’s game plan, “he switched that up and he got the win. Hat’s off to him. But it was really after the Derrick Lewis fight [that he knew the move down in weight was required].”
Despite the three-fight skid Chris Daukaus finds himself on ahead of his light heavyweight debut, there are no regrets about not making the move sooner. “Nah, no regrets, man. Nah. I’m doing everything full tilt. I don’t care. It’s just how I’m living my life. I wouldn’t want my life any other way.”
Even the extra two-month delay from his initial date with Khalil Rountree Jr. in Vancouver didn’t have him down.
“I caught a quote-unquote injury. Little injury, nothing too serious,” Daukaus said when asked about that fight being postponed. Initially, Daukaus believed he could get the required procedure for the undisclosed injury and still fight at UFC 289 in Vancouver, but a second and third opinion, including one from the UFC’s own doctor, put the kibosh on that.
Still, the match-up is intact, and he gets Rountree this Saturday. “I like the match-up a lot actually. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be fun going in there, it’ll be fun for the fans, but the match-up itself, I think it plays into my favor.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 78 media day appearance by Chris Daukaus above.
