Preview: UFC on ESPN 51 ‘Luque vs. Dos Anjos’

Light Heavyweights

#13 LHW | Khalil Rountree (11-5, 7-5 UFC) vs. #14 HW | Chris Daukaus (12-6, 4-3 UFC)

ODDS: Rountree (-180), Daukaus (+150)

Daukaus looks to revitalize his career with a move down to 205 pounds, and it will be interesting to see how that goes. Daukaus’ signing in 2020 was a bit of an afterthought, as he won enough to be worth the flier for the UFC at heavyweight, but struggles against his best competition suggested that he would have a low ceiling upon hitting the Octagon. Instead, Daukaus quickly rose to contender status with a string of knockouts, showing enough hand speed to catch his opponents off-guard and rack up win after win in impressive fashion. Daukaus eventually earned a main event spot against Derrick Lewis in the UFC’s final fight of 2021, and that is when things suddenly went south for the Philadelphian. Daukaus did not have the durability to hang with the heavyweight elite once things turned into a slugfest, and after getting run over by Jairzinho Rozenstruik in just 23 seconds in December, it is understandable that he would consider a move down to a lighter weight class. That does come with some clear worries, however. Given that Daukaus’ speed was one of his clear advantages at heavyweight, that could all be nullified against smaller and quicker competition. That is also magnified here, as Daukaus has enough name value thanks to his previous success that the UFC has not done him many favors entering his new weight class, where he gets a ranked and dangerous opponent in Rountree.

Rountree may not have lived up to his previous hype as one of the top prospects in the sport, and he is as mercurial as ever, but it has been nice to see him channel his talent into consistent success over the past few years. Rountree is an absolute terror as an offensive force, but for most of his career, it was surprisingly easy to take him out of a fight, whether via wrestling, blitzing offense or just waiting for Rountree to get fixated on some bad ideas. Rountree often winds up mixing up his approach from fight to fight, with little being consistent except the fact that he hits hard. Through sheer experience, he has managed to shore up a lot of his weaknesses and become a much more comfortable fighter with whatever he is trying out—to the point that he is now a three-round fighter who is able to rack up wins. Perhaps Daukaus is a new man down at 205 pounds, particularly if his newfound size advantage gives him the comfort to fight with more aggression, but this does seem like a particularly cruel matchup for his first crack at light heavyweight. As long as Rountree decides to throw out offense, he should do so with a combination of speed and power for which Daukaus is likely unprepared. The pick is Rountree via first-round knockout.

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Luque vs. Dos Anjos
Dawodu vs. Swanson
Rountree vs. Daukaus
Lucindo vs. Viana
Nchukwi vs. Dobson
Fremd vs. Pickett
The Prelims