COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chris Daukaus experienced losses before, but not quite of the magnitude of his first UFC defeat in December, a knockout against Derrick Lewis.
The loss hurt, and rubbing salt in the wound, recent life changes pushed him down the road of doubt and questioning. In the lead-up to the Lewis fight, which was his first UFC main event, Daukaus left his full-time job as a police officer to pursue his MMA dreams.
“It certainly sucks as far as losing,” Daukaus told MMA Junkie at a news conference Wednesday ahead of UFC on ESPN 33. “No one really likes to lose. I definitely don’t like to lose at anything. But to lose like that, I was in a bad place for a little bit, leaving my job right before that. Officially leaving my job, the questions of, ‘Are you good enough? Should you be here? Did you make a mistake?’ – all that is just creeping into my head.
“It’s not like I’m a single guy. I have a wife, my son, and a soon-to-be-daughter coming. It’s a big commitment that I stepped away from. I was guaranteed a paycheck every two weeks. Now I can go months without getting paid.”
One fight into being “all-in” Daukaus (12-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) sits at 0-1, a score he hopes to even up against Curtis Blaydes (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 33 main event Saturday at Nationwide Arena. In a weird way, visiting what Daukaus refers to as “that dark place” helped restart his journey toward UFC gold.
“It was a big thing, but I was in that dark place,” Daukaus said. “I stayed there for a little bit. I realized what I did wrong and everything like that. I really didn’t want to go back there, so I spent some time there. Just going into this camp has been really good, just fixing everything that I made the mistakes on as far as the Derrick Lewis fight. Man, I honestly haven’t been this excited for a fight week or fight camp in a very long time.”
Unlike football or basketball, MMA is an individual sport when it comes to the competition. But that’s misleading, Daukaus said. He points to his family, friends, and teammates as helping craft his mental so he can perform at his best going forward.
“There’s a reason why you fall down,” Daukaus said. “I lost and I was down there. I was not really depressed but you’re down on yourself. You let yourself down. You feel like you let everyone who has been having your back for all these years, you let them all down. You let your training partners down. You let your wife down, everyone. It’s really not enjoying that feeling, but knowing that feeling, knowing what it feels like to be down there. Then, (you) use that as a driving force to never go back there. … You literally can put anyone in a training camp and get them ready for a fight. It’s just the mental aspect that separates the good people from the greats. That’s the main thing people need to focus on.”
The heavyweight division is a bit log-jammed at the top. Perhaps it has more viable championship contenders than it ever has before. While Daukaus might not be in many discussions about who’s fighting for the belt in the near future, he thinks a win over Blaydes changes that.
“I’m right there,” Daukaus said. “He’s No. 4. In my opinion, you keep what you kill. I take his spot. I take No. 4’s spot, I’m right there. Look what Tai (Tuivasa) did. Tai beat Derrick. He jumped up into No. 3. There’s obviously no reason why I shouldn’t jump to No. 4. Then, whatever the UFC wants to do after that – Tai is there. Tom (Aspinall) just fought last week. He called out Tai, so I don’t know what the whole matchmaking skills are going to be. I’m not focused on that. I’m just focused on Curtis.”