Chris Daukaus ready to “scrap” with Khalil Rountree at UFC Vegas 78 in light heavyweight debut: “I’m going to run through this dude”

Chris Daukaus is excited to finally make his light heavyweight debut.

After Daukaus suffered his third-straight knockout loss back in December to Jairzinho Rozenstruik, he announced he would be dropping down to light heavyweight. Daukaus did a test cut which went well and was then booked to face Khalil Rountree at UFC 289 in June. However, just under two weeks before the event, Daukaus had to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury.

“I’m not going to give away the quote-unquote injury that I had. But, getting things in order for the fight, medical checks, different stuff, continuing fight camp,” Daukaus said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “All of a sudden, something came up. I talked to a bunch of doctors, talked to the UFC doctor, and I kept everyone in the loop. The Wednesday before fight week, the fight was off. I had to get a small procedure done, the procedure took a total of eight minutes and I was in and out of the doctor’s offense under my own power. There wasn’t a long recovery time.”

Once the fight was off, Chris Daukaus was uncertain if the UFC would keep the Khalil Rountree fight together or if he would get a different opponent.

Daukaus vows to “run through” Rountree

“I honestly didn’t know if he was going to try and stay the card if they were going to scrap the fight, or if they were going to push the fight back. I honestly didn’t know, I didn’t have an idea,” Chris Daukaus said. “When this injury came up, I kept the UFC in the loop and said if they wanted to keep this fight we are cool with it. If he wanted to fight sooner, there will be no hard feelings on my end.”

The UFC ended up rebooking Chris Daukaus vs. Khalil Rountree at UFC Vegas 78 this Saturday.

Although Daukaus could be fighting for his job as he’s lost three in a row, he says there is no pressure on him. Instead, he says this fight is a blessing for him as he figured he was getting cut after his last loss.

“Zero, zero. There is no pressure. What pressure is there on me? I thought I was getting cut after the last fight,” Daukaus said. “This is a blessing, I have zero pressure, the pressure is on him because he’s inviting me down to 205… I shouldn’t be here right now, I thought I was getting cut the last fight so this is a blessing. I’m going to run through this dude, I’m focused and 100 percent ready to go.”

With Chris Daukaus not feeling any pressure, he expects that to works wonders for him at UFC Vegas 78.

Although Daukaus knows Khalil Rountree is super dangerous, he believes he has all the tools to win. With that, Daukaus promises to run through Rountree to get back into the win column in a big way.

“We are just going to scrap, I know what he is going to do. He doesn’t take people down he just wings that left-body kick, that left leg of his is super dangerous. We will see how this fight plays out. We’ll go boxing against kickboxing, boxing against muay Thai, et’s go we’ll see who’s better. I just want to scrap with him,” Daukaus said.

Should Chris Daukaus get his hand raised at UFC Vegas 78, he isn’t sure what a win does for him. Instead, he says he’s just looking forward to making his mark in the light heavyweight division.

“I want to take the fights available… When I beat him and the UFC calls me and says you got the number six guy, then I get the number six guy. I’m here to fight and here to win. I want to be consistent and a force at 205,” Daukaus concluded.