Chris Daukaus built on what has been an outstanding year for Philadelphia based MMA fighters with a first round knockout of Rodrigo Nascimento. Nascimento was undefeated headed into the bout (8-0) and closed as a 3-to-1 favorite. This didn’t matter to Daukaus, however, as the 31 year-old made short work of him. Daukaus secured yet another first round KO with a flawless victory over Nascimento, meaning that both of his UFC victories have come via first round KO.
The victory was also good enough to earn Chris Daukaus a $50k Performance of the Night bonus. He was one of four fighters to earn the bonus for the night; the others being Tom Breese, Cory Sandhagen and Joaquin Buckley.
The heavyweight initially thought that he would come up short in regards to the bonus following an all-time KO courtesy of Buckley just a fight prior. “1000% that dude got 50 grand,” Daukaus said of Buckley while laughing. “I was like damn, this dude just beat me out of 50 G’s.”
Daukaus, who still works as a Philadelphia police officer, has demonstrated remarkable hand speed thus far in his UFC tenure. He gets powerful punches off from tight angles and fights a-lot like Daniel Cormier in that regard. Daukaus has opted for a lighter approach to the heavyweight division to this point, weighing in at 227 pounds for the bout with Nascimento. This is down from 241, which is what the Philly native weighed in at for the Porter fight.
Daukaus also has a BJJ black belt, though he hasn’t had to use it yet at the UFC level.
Post-fight, the heavyweight told the press that he is looking to get back in the octagon in 2021, but not before the year is up. “I definitely owe my wife and my son some time off,” Daukaus said to reporters. The elder Daukaus will next be cornering his younger brother, Kyle, at UFC 255. Kyle Daukaus (9-1) lost via decision in his UFC debut to a very tough out in Brendan Allen. He is currently booked for an intriguing match-up with Dustin Stoltzfus.
As stated before, 2020 has been a great year for Philly based MMA fighters. The Daukaus brothers both fight out of Martinez BJJ, which is located in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia. The UFC also just recently signed another Philadelphia based fighter in Jeremiah Wells, who trains out of Renzo Gracie Philadelphia. Sean Brady, who is now 3-0 in the UFC and generating enormous hype, also trains out of Renzo Gracie Philly. Brady earned a Performance of the Night bonus himself his last time out with a submission win over Christian Aguilera.
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