Kyle Daukaus plans to “be as dominant” as possible against “tough” Roman Dolidze at UFC Austin: “He’s a guy that is in for all 15 minutes”

Kyle Daukaus figured he would be fighting Julian Marquez next.

Daukaus and Marquez were originally booked to fight on February 19, but Marquez was forced to withdraw and Jamie Pickett stepped up. Daukaus ended up winning by first-round submission and after the victory, he figured he would be rebooked against Marquez. Instead, he was booked against Dolidze, who he was supposed to face last November.

“I figured I would’ve gotten Marquez again, that is what I was hoping for at least,” Daukaus said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I wasn’t surprised, it is what it is, I have to fight anybody they put in front of me so I was going to say yes regardless of who it was.”

Although Daukaus and Dolidze were booked to fight one another, the Philadelphia native says the last camp was short notice so he didn’t have a ton of time to prepare.

Now, after looking into Dolidze, he says he likes this matchup as what his opponent does well, he believes he does better.

“He was a short notice fight last time so this camp I’ve had a lot more time to study him and get prepared for him,” Daukaus explained. “I like the matchup, I’m very excited about the matchup… I match up well against him, to be honest, not to be disrespectful to Roman or anything, but his last two fights he had in the UFC were against guys who fought at 170. Trevin Giles dropped down (to 170) and Staropoli moved up for that fight. I’m an actual middleweight he will be fighting. We are both the same, he has a very slow style and will be a good test for me.”

Even though Kyle Daukaus is confident he has the skill set to beat Roman Dolidze at UFC Austin, he is expecting a tough fight. He knows Dolidze is as durable as they come so he’s expecting a 15-minute grinding type of fight.

“I’m going to get my hand raised regardless of what happens. Just try and go out there and be as dominant as I possibly can be,” Daukaus said. “I’m really going to try and show off my striking in this fight and just show my skillset is very well-rounded. My last fight was very wrestling heavy and it being in the big cage there will be more room to move. I’m going to mix it up, it’s mixed martial arts for a reason… He’s a guy that is in for all 15 minutes, it’s going to be tough to put him out but if it happens it happens and it shows my level in the division.”

If Daukaus gets his hand raised on Saturday at UFC Austin, he isn’t sure what is next but believes he will be matched up against one of the other middleweights on the card.

“There are a lot of middleweights on the card, I lost to Hawes and he’s fighting Deron Winn, Marquez is fighting as well and Buckley is on the card, too. There are a lot of middleweights they can match up after,” Daukaus concluded.

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