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KYLE DAUKAUS | THE D’ARCE KNIGHT RETURNS
Kyle Daukaus Opens Up About Anxiety, Discusses Dominant Return To UFC
On the morning of the fight he’d been chasing for more than two-and-a-half years, Kyle Daukaus woke up riddled with stress and anxiety. Sitting in his hotel room in Shanghai, China, just a handful of hours before he was set to make the walk to the Octagon for the first time since December 3, 2022, the Philadelphia native was listening to a distressing series of questions and comments play on a loop in his head.
“I woke up on Fight Day super-stressed; I’ve never been that stressed that stressed in my entire life,” began Daukaus, who went 2-4 with one no contest during his first run with the promotion before his contract was not renewed following a second-round stoppage loss to Eryk Anders. “My brother was like, ‘Dude, what’s going on?’ I’d never had this anxiety before a fight.
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“We stepped foot in the stadium, I warmed up, and I was still feeling a little off, feeling a little tired, I wasn’t sure what was going on. I was like, ‘Man, I feel like I can’t get going.’”
That’s when the self-doubt soundtrack blaring in his head got cranked up to 11, carrying him to some thoughts that no one wants to be wrestling with in the period before they make arguably the most important walk of their professional career.
“Dealing with it is tough,” admitted Daukaus. “You go to some dark places in your head, like, ‘You know you’re gonna get knocked out. You’re gonna lose. What’s the point of flying here? Why did you fly to China? You flew 15 hours just to lose a fight?’ But I was like, ‘Screw all that! This is excitement, this is joy; I’m happy to be here. I know I have a good opponent in front of me, but I know I can run through him.’
“As soon as they were like, ‘You’re up next,’ a switch flipped in my head and I was ready,” he added with a laugh. “I felt great. I was good to go. Mentally I was all there, the fight happened, and it was just crazy.”
Soon after eating a hand kick to the body, Daukaus put a left hand on Pereira’s jaw that sent the Brazilian crashing to the canvas in a heap. The returning middleweight instantly pounced, unloading a series of unanswered punches and elbows that eventually put “Demolidor” to sleep and ended the fight.
Just 43 seconds after it started, the fight was over and Daukaus had announced is presence as a returning threat to watch in the currently fluid middleweight division.
“I think I needed that to prove that I deserve to be here, but more so that I’m mentally tougher than I was before,” continued Daukaus, who took home a Performance of the Night bonus for efforts in China. “I will say I have suffered a lot with anxiety and stuff like that. It did get really bad when I was in the UFC before, and I don’t know why.
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“I just flipped a script in my head and said, ‘I get to do this. I get to fight. I get to be here. I’m grateful that I get to do what I love,’ and it just let me go out there and perform.”
Unquestionably the best performance he’s had inside the Octagon, the victory over Pereira last month was a continuation of the efforts Daukaus had been delivering on the regional circuit in between his first stint on the roster and his return.
While he took a step back from consuming MMA content and turned down several invites to pay-per-view parties with friends, Daukaus was still very much in the gym, keeping himself prepared, and when he stepped back into the cage, he thrived. He returned to Cage Fighting Fury Championships (CFFC), the outstanding Northeastern US promotion where he reigned as middleweight champion before his initial UFC call-up, and reclaimed the belt in his second fight back to wrap up a successful 2023 campaign.
Last year, Daukaus posted back-to-back stoppage wins while defending his title, fighting with the kind of unshakable confident that had previously escape him whenever he stepped into the Octagon. When he got the call to face Pereira, he was preparing to defend his title again, and was already physically at the point that he was ready to compete. Though the nerves and negative thoughts that plagued him all the way up to the minute he stepped through the curtain and started making the walk in Shanghai might suggest otherwise, Daukaus was, truly, more prepared mentally as well.
When his contract wasn’t renewed, one of the things the Forge MMA representative did was search to find examples of athletes that had exited the UFC, returned, and found success, with the foremost example being flyweight Brandon Moreno, who rose to the top of the division less than two years after returning and a touch over three years after his initial run came to an end.
As Daukaus in the midst of his run of success on the regional circuit, Youssef Zalal re-emerged in the featherweight division, posting a submission win over Billy Quarantillo in his short-notice comeback fight. Earlier this year, “The Moroccan Devil” registered a unanimous decision win over Calvin Kattar to push his record to 4-0 since returning to the UFC and earn himself a place in the Top 15 in the 145-pound weight class.
“The first thing I looked up was ‘Who are guys that got re-signed that are doing well?’” he said with a laugh. “I think Youssef might have gotten signed my second or third fight outside of the UFC — it wasn’t that long ago — so I was like, ‘These guys are doing it, so there is no reason I can’t do it too.’
“It’s the same thing with the four-minute mile,” he added. “One guy ran a less than four-minute mile, and everybody else started doing it, so I was like, ’S*** — I can do the same thing.’ It’s just belief in yourself.
Though he’s now carrying an even greater belief in himself, one thing Daukaus promised himself he wouldn’t do in the wake of his win was suddenly morph into someone that is calling people out and telling anyone that would listen where he fits in the division, what kind of matchups he should be getting, and blustering on the way some competitors tend to do at times.
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Beating Pereira and doing it the way he did was enough to set a new baseline for where he stands amongst those in the middleweight division, but the historically impatient Philly native is committed to slowing things down, continuing to put forth quality efforts, and work his way up the ladder one rung at a time.
“I’ve definitely gained a ton of confidence off that win, but I will not say that I’ve gained a ton of ego because of it,” said Daukaus. “I told myself that I will not let myself be this big ego guy that calls out people I should be fighting and whatnot. I told myself to be grateful, be humble, and make sure that I’m winning fights.
“I just beat a guy in 43 seconds that was not beaten like that his whole UFC career. I also beat a guy who was also beaten by now the No. 7 and the No. 14 or No. 15 guy, so that just shows where I stack up against these guys. Now am I confident against anybody that I fight? Obviously. Will there be that wary anxiety in the background that’s making sure I have the nerves in my stomach and the butterflies flying around? Of course, but when I step into the Octagon, I know I’m confident and I know I have the ability to (beat anybody).
Kyle Daukaus Returns To The Octagon With A KO Victory Over Michel Pereira | UFC Shanghai
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Kyle Daukaus Returns To The Octagon With A KO Victory Over Michel Pereira | UFC Shanghai
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“For this second run, I don’t want to fight anybody Top 15 or anything like that just yet,” continued the man who admitted he’s more of an “if I want something, I get it” type than someone who likes to wait on gifts, including at Christmas. “I don’t think I’m anywhere near there right now. I should probably fight somebody outside of that. If there was a Top 25, somebody in there.
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“I’m 32, I probably have four or five more years in this before things start to slow down, so I wanna make the run for that gold in this next two or three years, but I know I have to be patient.”
While he is going to call anyone out or look to hustle up the rankings, Daukaus does have some life events on the horizon that have him looking to figure out when his next fight is going to take place.
Kyle Daukaus Post-Fight Interview | UFC Shanghai
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Kyle Daukaus Post-Fight Interview | UFC Shanghai
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“My wife is due the first week or second week of December,” said the proud and expecting father, who is readying to welcome a second boy to the mix later this year. “My first son was five weeks early, and I feel like this one will maybe be here early too, so he could potentially be here Thanksgiving.
“I know there’s (Madison Square Garden) on the 15th, a couple cards in December,” he added. "I’ve talked to my wife already and she understands and said, ‘If a fight comes, you take it, you fight’ because this is what I do for a living, and we’ll figure it out with the baby, so I’m hoping to get on that MSG card or something even in December.”
Thought the idea of “The D’arce Knight” fighting in Gotham feels fitting, the truth is that whenever that assignment comes, whoever it is against Daukaus will be dialled in and ready to continue proving to himself and everyone else that this second run is going to be different.
“I want to challenge myself — that’s what this sport is about is challenging yourself,” he said. “I think I’m ready for it, I’m mature enough for it, and I’m completely different person now, so I’ll take whoever they give me next.”
UFC Fight Night: Walker vs Zhang took place live from Shanghai Indoor Stadium in Shanghai, China on August 23, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!