Monday Morning Hangover: What’s next for Chris Daukaus after second straight knockout loss at UFC Columbus?

For the second straight week, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) staged an event in front of a packed house as rabid fight fans invaded Nationwide Arena for UFC Columbus. After the event, several fighters were left feeling the post-fight blues, including Joanne Wood, who suffered her second straight loss after getting choked out by Alexa Grasso in the very first round (see it here).

And Askar Askarov, who tasted defeat for the first time in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career after coming up short to a game Kai Kara-France, losing a unanimous decision after 15 minutes of action. But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Chris Daukaus.

Coming into his his second straight main event, Daukaus was looking to erase the memory of his knockout loss at the hands of former title contender Derrick Lewis, which went down just three months ago. Instead, the heavy-handed brawler went home with his second straight loss via strikes.

Things started off in his favor for the simple fact that Blaydes completely abandoned his wrestling in the first five minutes, opting to instead keep it all on the feet — a strategy many pundits believed would favor Daukaus since 11 of his 12 wins have come via KO/TKO. But just one brief slip up in the opening seconds of round two was enough to give Blaydes the chance to land a crushing right hand, one that dropped Daukaus and left him open to eat several follow-up shots.

After starting off his UFC career with four straight victories via strikes, three in round one, Daukaus finds himself in a hole after his two recent setbacks. But given the manner he’s lost all of his fights, it’s obvious Daukaus has a “kill or be killed” mindset and that’s why he’ll likely be fine moving forward.

Furthermore, losing to Lewis and Blaydes — both ranked in the Top 5 — is nothing to be ashamed of.

“There’s always negativity from people after a loss, often we linger too long on that,” said Daukaus after the event. “I’m very appreciative for the people who have not done that and who have reached out with positivity. You guys are the best.”

Daukaus has all the talent in the world and at age 32, he still has plenty of time to make another run and possibly fight for the title one day. Granted, the hole he finds himself in at the moment will make that journey a bit tougher, but in the heavyweight division wins can come in a hurry and it doesn’t take too many of them to make a push for a title shot.

As for what’s next for Daukaus, a fight against Augusto Sakai seems ideal. Sakai is currently on a three-fight skid and was last seen getting knocked out by Tai Tuivasa at UFC 269 last December. Sakai also needs a win in a huge way and will come out motivated to get it against a fellow fighter stuck in a slump.

A loss, however, could mean the end of the road for either fighter.

For complete UFC Columbus: “Blaydes vs. Daukaus” results and play-by-play, click HERE.