Not many people were expecting a three round fight between Tafon Nchukwi and Chris Daukaus, the pair of UFC veterans that headlined CFFC 143 this past Friday.
“I wasn’t either,” admitted Ncukwi following the bout, which saw him win a hard-fought decision in his first post-UFC scrap.
After going the distance, Nchukwi gave his thoughts post-fight while speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “Honestly, I feel that Chris Daukaus, that’s a tough-ass dude. Because I hit him with some shots where I was like ‘okay.’ He just looked at me and just kept coming, bleeding from the case. That’s a frigging monster right there. He’s been in the highest level of the game just like I have, so we kind of know what the f*cking highest level of competition is. And it was great for me to step in there with someone like that. It just shows me I’ve got so much more to work on, and I’m looking forward to this journey as I continue to do it.”
While some fighters might shy away from admitting that they were damaged in a bout, Nchukwi had no issues revealing that Daukaus did in fact have him hurt at times.
“He caught me with something that made me— I was like ‘let me hold you real quick buddy. What you doing?’ I said ‘let’s hold on.’ Yeah he had me worried for a little bit. Dude has some power in his hands,” stated Nchukwi. “But that’s part of the fight game, you feel something, you’ve just got to adapt and keep moving. So Chris Daukaus, man, it was a great opportunity to go against you, and I hope you keep on moving through this career. I know it’s a rough game out here.”
With a victory under his belt against a high-profile opponent, Nchukwi, still just 29, can look towards getting back to the big show. There’s more than just a UFC return on his mind, however.
“There’s actually quite a bit I want to accomplish,” said Nchukwi, who is open to taking fights in other disciplines beyond MMA. “Muay Thai. I’m looking now to expand and try everything. I’m going to have fun with this journey. Just did MMA, actually when they first hit me up for this I thought it was a Muay Thai fight, but I signed up for it anyway, got it done. So now we’re going to look into other things. If there’s a good opportunity for MMA, we’re back in there, Muay Thai, boxing, I’m trying to have fun with this career, so let’s make this sh*t happen.”
Watch the full CFFC 134 post-fight press scrum with Tafon Nchukwi above.
