3 years ago, Kyle Daukaus was cut from the UFC after a 2 fight losing streak getting knocked out by Roman Dolidze and Eryk Anders in succession.
Philly’s D’Arce Knight already had a rocky start going 1 and 2 in his first 3 fights, but after a No Contest against Kevin Holland and a cancelled rematch with Holland who was replaced by Dolidze but that ended up being cancelled again due to COVID-19 protocols, 2021 wasn’t his year.
He came back against Jamie Pickett in February of 2022 and won via Brabo Choke and things were looking up for the D’Arce Knight as he was trying to push this moment to getting ranked in the middleweight division.
Then he suffered a first round defeat to Roman Dolidze via knee and then punches. It was a scrappy start to the match and they both pushed the action but Roman posted him up against the cage and landed a heavy knee to the face followed up by ground and pound.
He fared no better against Eryk Anders getting clipped in the second round before the ground and pound. Daukaus tried to shoot for a takedown after he got clipped but he was too rocked to properly control Anders and he could barely get up after Anders disengaged from the takedown attempt. Anders smelled blood and went in for the kill.
After this, Daukaus’ contract had expired and he wasn’t resigned by the UFC.
Now his first run in the promotion had been plagued by pull outs from his opponents and short notice fights which makes for a lack of proper preparation.
He went back to Cage Fury FC, going on a 4-0 run to win the CFFC Middleweight Championship with 3 fights ending by Stoppage and one ending by unanimous decision.
Daukaus was resigned to the UFC and stepped in to replace Marco Tulio against the fast and unpredictable striking of Michel Pereira.
This was a fight many had Daukaus losing because Michel Pereira is the exact kind of fighter known to give him problems, speedy and hard hitting with solid KO power and wins over tough opponents like Ihor Potieria, Michal Oleksiejczuk and more. So the game plan for him to win should have been to stay outside of range for the first minute and gauge distance to shoot for a take down and submit Pereira who is also a decent grappler with 11 wins by submission. Coming in on short notice, his was shaping up to be a very uphill battle for Daukaus.
And then about 33 seconds into the first round, The D’Arce Knight slips a jab and lands a right hook counter which sends Pereira to the canvas as he almost certainly didn’t know what hit him and attempted to defend ground and pound but he got hit with one too many clean elbows to the head forcing the referee to call a stop to the contest.
It was a shocking upset and a statement win for Daukaus who wants to have a great second run at the UFC and with a performance like that, we’re glad to have him back
