Edmonton — Believe it or not, middleweight Kyle Daukaus believes there’ll be more pressure fighting in Edmonton than at the White House, where he competed earlier this year.
Daukaus (17-5, 1NC) was up against Bo Nickal at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House grounds back in June. Saturday finds him paired up with Marc-Andre Barriault at Rogers Place on the UFC Edmonton main card. Yet the White House had limited access for fans, and that might make the difference.
“It was a spectacle of an event, obviously. It was a lot of pressure on you, a lot of eyes on you,” Daukaus said of the White House card on Wednesday, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “Going out there and fighting for that and then coming here, there’s going to be more fans here I expect, because we’re on the main card. So there’s going to be a ton of fans here, I’m sure it’s going to be sold out. I would expect more pressure for this one just based off the fan aspect, and fighting the hometown guy, and fighting in this country.”
Playing spoiler in Barriault’s home country, meanwhile, “would be great to do it, but I’m just here to fight,” added Daukaus. “It doesn’t really matter if I fight a guy that’s in his hometown, or we fight in Brazil or China or whatnot. I’m just here to win.”
And when he’s not fighting, Daukaus has become something of a bookworm. His wife is an avid reader, and the middleweight is now following suit. Of late, it’s been Dungeon Crawler Carl. Fight Week gives him the opportunity to catch up on his reading. “I have a lot of free time now, so I can just get some chapters read,” he noted. “It takes my mind off the fighting. I have a lot of down time here throughout fight week. And for Fight Week for me, it’s something that I kind of make it a vacation, we go around the city, find some things to do and whatnot. I read when I can.”
Watch the full UFC Edmonton media day appearance by Kyle Daukaus above.