Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. In the span of a few weeks, Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight
Kyle
Daukaus has flipped through a litany of opponents and fight
dates. Daukaus (10-2, 1 NC) was initially booked in a rematch against
Kevin
Holland at UFC Fight Night 197 on Nov. 13, but Holland
suffered an injury and was forced out of their bout. They first
fought in October, and an inadvertent clash of heads led to a no
contest ruling. When Holland withdrew, the fight card shuffled and
Daukaus ended up planning on meeting Roman
Dolidze. This too dematerialized when Dolidze was
removed from the card due to COVID-19 protocols.
As the organization was unable to book a replacement opponent a
couple day before the event, Daukaus was pulled from the card. On
Thursday,
MMA Junkie was the first to break the story that Daukaus will
now be fighting on Feb. 19 at a currently unnumbered UFC Fight
Night event. On the event, he will be facing Julian
Marquez (9-2), who too had a recent fight scheduled and
scratched. Marquez has since confirmed the pairing on his Instagram.
Daukaus’ 2021 campaign was not a success for the Philadelphia
native, who first dropped a decision to Phil Hawes
in May. An attempted rebounding effort against Holland in October
led to the two middleweights clashing heads in the center of the
cage. Although Daukaus ultimately elicited a rear-naked choke tap
from Holland, the cageside officials led by Dan Miragliotta
determined through replay that the damage from the clash of heads
resulted in the subsequent finish. The two had hoped to run it back
a month later, and when Holland was forced out, Daukaus moved on to
other opponents.
Marquez had a far better year than his prospective opponent,
returning after nearly three years away to face Maki Pitolo
in February. A hard-fought battle resulted in an anaconda choke
victory for “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” and that win springboarded
him into a bout with Sam Alvey less
than two months later. When Marquez put Alvey to sleep with a
no-hooks rear-naked choke, he became the first man in over a decade
to submit Alvey, and he kept his 100% finish rate intact in the
process.
The UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 19 only has three other bouts
billed on it at the moment, and it is expected to be held in the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas but that has not been confirmed. The other
matches include a pair of featherweight scraps between Austin
Lingo and Jonathan
Pearce as well as one between Chas Skelly
and Mark
Striegl. The remaining bout sees Jesse
Strader take on Chad
Anheliger in the bantamweight division.