Ad Disclosure
Kyle Daukaus is a Classic Philly Story
Published:
Northeast Philly’s Kyle Daukaus returned to the UFC this past weekend and scored a huge KO win over middleweight Michel Pereira:
This is one of those classic Philadelphia perseverance/underdog type of stories.
A few years back, Kyle and his brother Chris were both UFC fighters. Kyle started 2-2 with a no contest vs. Kevin Holland after an accidental headbutt screwed up that fight. He lost his next two and returned Cage Fury FC, the local circuit based out of the Philly and South Jersey region. Daukaus proceeded to win four fights in a row, claiming the middleweight title and defending it twice, which earned him a second UFC chance almost three years later. He then proceeded to starch Pereira in Shanghai as a +200 underdog.
For a cross-sport analogy, this would be like a Phillies pitcher going down to the IronPigs, tearing it up in Lehigh Valley, then coming back to the big leagues and throwing 6 innings of one-hit baseball. The KO earned Daukaus a performance of the night bonus and it opens the door for another UFC run. He was 9-0 when he first joined the promotion back in 2020, now he returns in 2025 with a 16-4-1 record at 32 years old and has a few more prime years before he hits 35.
The 185 pound division is pretty stacked at the moment, but there are some good fights to make. Wouldn’t mind running back that Holland fight, or a matchup against any of the guys hovering just outside of the top 15 right now. Edmen Shahbazyan, Marc-Andre Barriault, Ikram Aliskerov, etc. Plenty of quality fights to make.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com