Kyle Daukaus Rebooked for Feb. 19, Takes on Julian Marquez

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In the span of a few weeks, Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Kyle Daukaus has flipped through a litany of opponents and fight dates.

Daukaus (10-2, 1 NC) was initially booked in a rematch against Kevin Holland at UFC Fight Night 197 on Nov. 13, but Holland suffered an injury and was forced out of their bout. They first fought in October, and an inadvertent clash of heads led to a no contest ruling. When Holland withdrew, the fight card shuffled and Daukaus ended up planning on meeting Roman Dolidze. This too dematerialized when Dolidze was removed from the card due to COVID-19 protocols.

As the organization was unable to book a replacement opponent a couple day before the event, Daukaus was pulled from the card. On Thursday, MMA Junkie was the first to break the story that Daukaus will now be fighting on Feb. 19 at a currently unnumbered UFC Fight Night event. On the event, he will be facing Julian Marquez (9-2), who too had a recent fight scheduled and scratched. Marquez has since confirmed the pairing on his Instagram.

Daukaus’ 2021 campaign was not a success for the Philadelphia native, who first dropped a decision to Phil Hawes in May. An attempted rebounding effort against Holland in October led to the two middleweights clashing heads in the center of the cage. Although Daukaus ultimately elicited a rear-naked choke tap from Holland, the cageside officials led by Dan Miragliotta determined through replay that the damage from the clash of heads resulted in the subsequent finish. The two had hoped to run it back a month later, and when Holland was forced out, Daukaus moved on to other opponents.

Marquez had a far better year than his prospective opponent, returning after nearly three years away to face Maki Pitolo in February. A hard-fought battle resulted in an anaconda choke victory for “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” and that win springboarded him into a bout with Sam Alvey less than two months later. When Marquez put Alvey to sleep with a no-hooks rear-naked choke, he became the first man in over a decade to submit Alvey, and he kept his 100% finish rate intact in the process.

The UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 19 only has three other bouts billed on it at the moment, and it is expected to be held in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas but that has not been confirmed. The other matches include a pair of featherweight scraps between Austin Lingo and Jonathan Pearce as well as one between Chas Skelly and Mark Striegl. The remaining bout sees Jesse Strader take on Chad Anheliger in the bantamweight division.