Middleweight champ Kyle Daukaus fueled by Contender Series snub ahead of CFFC 81
Cage Fury Fighting Championships middleweight titleholder Kyle Daukaus is happy with the past 12 months of his professional career, save for one minor detail.
"It was a perfect year for me, I think, fighting-wise," Daukaus said. "I fought three times, and I remained undefeated. I had a bunch of goals for the year, and I accomplished almost all of them. The only one I didn't accomplish was getting that UFC contract, but it was good year, overall."
The undefeated Daukaus claimed the CFFC middleweight belt in February and was then invited to compete for a UFC contract this past June on Dana White's Contender Series. He earned a dominant decision win on the show but ultimately wasn't offered a UFC deal.
The bout remains the lone decision of Daukaus' career, with his other seven wins all coming via submission.
"I've watched that fight about 100 times, and I'm yelling at myself every single time I watch it," Daukaus said. "'Posture up and punch. Posture up and punch and you'll get the finish.' I never would. I learned from that, so these next couple fights that I'm going to have, I plan on dominating on the ground and getting these finishes."
Daukaus returned to the CFFC cage this past September and defended his middleweight title with a submission win over Stephen Regman. The Martinez Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu product said the result wrapped up a hugely important year for him.
"I've always envisioned myself there in the UFC, and being at the Contender Series, I was very comfortable," Daukaus said. "I didn't have those pre-fight jitters. I wasn't nervous or anything like that. I believe my performance displayed how I felt.
"I didn't get the contract. It is what it is, but I have to keep winning. I'm looking at it as just like a little experience. I know as long as I keep winning, I'll eventually get the call."
Daukaus (8-0) looks to keep his winning ways going when he puts his title on the line against Arkansas' Nolan Norwood (12-5) at CFFC 81, which takes place Feb. 1 at Parx Casino in Bensalem, Penn. The bout is one of three championship fights on the night's main card, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS.
"I believe Nolan was like the third or the fourth opponent they had offered me," Daukaus said. "They offered me a couple other guys, and everybody said no. I was tired of saying yes and having opponents say no, so I was like, 'All right, find somebody that wants to fight me, and I'll be ready. As long as the opponent wants to fight, I'll be ready.' Nolan was the first guy to step up and say he wanted to fight, so he got it.
"He's very, very experienced. He's 12-5. He's got double the amount of fights that I have, so going into the fight, he's going to see things that I haven't seen yet because of experience, but I plan on just going in there and running through him."
Whether a win is enough to get him the UFC invite he was hoping for this past summer remains to be seen, but Daukaus said it doesn't matter either way. The 26-year-old believes he will be in the UFC at some point, so he'll just keep looking to rack up the wins until the phone rings.
"It's always on my mind," Daukaus said. "In my bedroom, I have a list of goals, actually, and every morning I wake up, and those goals are what motivates me.
"I want to stay undefeated. My main goal is to get in the UFC by mid-2020. I believe that I will get in there through a short-notice injury replacement, which would be ideal because I'm always ready to fight, or if they just want to come and sign me, I'm more than ready. But I'm not here to beg and wait and all that stuff. I'm going to stay busy. If they don't call me, I'm staying busy."
Of course, Daukaus would prefer to make it to the world's largest MMA promotion sooner rather than later, so he plans on putting on a show at CFFC 81.
"I'm going to get this done in the first round," Daukaus said. "I've been adding a bunch of tools to my arsenal these last two to three months. It's really going to show on Feb. 1. I plan on being violent."
