Chris Daukaus is a competitor. As such, his current two-fight skid doesn’t sit well with him.
The former Philadelphia police officer isn’t naive. He understands those losses came against two of the premier heavyweights in the world, Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis. But while he can logically accept those performances for what they were, the result of a meteoric rise in the UFC’s heavyweight division, the competitive fire inside Daukaus burns white-hot until the time he redeems his name.
That’s the 32-year-old’s motivation heading into his October 1st clash with Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Vegas 61.
“The competitor in me and the fighter in me doesn’t like losing,” Daukuas shared with The AllStar in a recent interview. “I don’t like losing anything really.
“But, if I’m being objective and if I take my personal biases away from those fights, I lost to, at the time, the number three and the number four guy in the world. When I’ve been in the company for less than two years, And I’m okay with that. As an individual, I’m okay with that. As a human being, I’m okay with that.
“As the competitor as the fighter, as the person who’s competing October first, I am not okay with losing. I do not like that. I do not like that one bit.”
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Daukaus, after taking his recent bouts in quick succession, has given his body a recovery period in the time since. The 240-pounder also used that downtime as a chance to refocus and retool his whole skillset, fully immersing himself in every facet of mixed martial arts.
He wants to prove there’s more to heavyweights than walking forward and throwing power-punches.
“Us heavyweights kind of just stand there and bang. I’m just trying to improve – I’m a black belt in jiujitsu, I’ve been a blackbelt in jiujitsu for a year now – a little bit over a year. [I’m] Just immersing myself fully into MMA. Really trying to be a complete and better fighter.”
He’s eager to test-drive those changes at the UFC Apex next month against another high-caliber opponent in Rozenstruik.
“I’m really excited, October first, to test myself against another guy who I’ve seen fight for years now in Jairzinho. So it’s gonna be fun.”
With both Daukaus and Rozenstruik being in a similar position in their career – rocketed toward the peak of their division in a short time span, only to face adversity at the top – there’s a certain ‘crossroads’ feel surrounding the matchup. One fighter will reaffirm their name as a top contender, the other forced to claw their way back up the ladder over years, if ever.
“We’re both coming off of the losses and all that, So we’ll see how this goes. We’ll see how this fight plays out, and the trajectories of both of our careers, on October first. Obviously, I think I’m gonna run through him. Obviously, he thinks he’s gonna run through me. We’ll see how this fight plays out.”
While Daukaus has leaned into the ‘mixed’ aspect of MMA, he believes there’s still no secret about who’s going to win the fight and how.
“[It’s] who’s gonna land first, who’s gonna zig when they should have zagged, who’s gonna slip when they should have slid. It is what it is, people know what they’re getting from me, and people know what they’re getting from him. It’s not gonna be this big surprise type thing.”
Yes, Daukaus almost certainly has a grappling advantage – but given the chance, he’d opt to negate that option altogether if his opponent was in agreeance, just to prove his dominance in Rozenstruik’s field of expertise.
“He’s a former world champion kickboxer – he’s got some crazy kickboxing record. I want to test myself against the best guys in their discipline. If we had a gentleman’s agreement of no takedowns, I’ll gladly not do a takedown on this dude. We could do that weigh-in night, that’s fine. I’ll gladly shake his hand and say ‘hey listen mate no takedowns, let’s just bang it out and let’s just see what happens.”
That’s no easy task, however – Rozenstruik won’t go away without a fight. In his last performance, after what was arguably an early stoppage, ‘Big Boy’ protested that ‘if nobody is unconscious on the ground, let us keep fighting’. A glimpse into the mindset of a modern-day gladiator.
“He’s a fighter, he’s a warrior in there – he wants to be flatlined. So that’s the type of guy that I’m gonna be fighting – and If that’s the way he wants to go out, I have to be accepting and willing to meet him on those terms.”
“And I’m okay with that.”
Fighter profile
Chris Daukaus is a 32-year-old male fighter from the United States with 12 pro wins and 5 losses. Daukaus is scheduled to fight Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan on Saturday, October 1, 2022.
Chris Daukaus’s recent form coming into this matchup
Chris Daukaus has gone 3-2 in the last 5 professional MMA fights.
- Loss vs Curtis Blaydes • KO/TKO R2 0:17 • 2022-03-26
- Loss vs Derrick Lewis • KO/TKO R1 3:36 • 2021-12-18
- Win vs Shamil Abdurakhimov • KO/TKO R2 1:23 • 2021-09-25
- Win vs Aleksei Oleinik • KO/TKO R1 1:55 • 2021-02-20
- Win vs Rodrigo Nascimento • KO/TKO R1 0:45 • 2020-10-10
Chris Daukaus’s next opponent: Jairzinho “Bigi Boy” Rozenstruik
Jairzinho “Bigi Boy” Rozenstruik’s recent form coming into this matchup
Jairzinho “Bigi Boy” Rozenstruik is a 34-year-old male fighter from Suriname with 12 pro wins and 4 losses. Rozenstruik is scheduled to fight Chris Daukaus at UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan on Saturday, October 1, 2022.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik has gone 2-3 in the last 5 professional MMA fights.
- Loss vs Alexander Volkov • KO/TKO R1 2:12 • 2022-06-04
- Loss vs Curtis Blaydes • Decision R3 5:00 • 2021-09-25
- Win vs Augusto Sakai • KO/TKO R1 4:59 • 2021-06-05
- Loss vs Ciryl Gane • Decision R5 5:00 • 2021-02-27
- Win vs Junior dos Santos • KO/TKO R2 3:47 • 2020-08-15
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