Chris Daukaus didn’t have a Wikipedia page heading into his main card clash with Aleksei Oleinik in February.

Despite a pair of first-round finishes in his first two forays into the UFC Octagon, a 10-3 record overall, and eight wins in his previous nine outings, the Philadelphia-based heavyweight was one of several fighters on that late February fight card whose name wasn’t a clickable link.

For a lot of fans and media, that’s a sign that you’re unimportant and not worthy of their time, because everybody who is anybody has a Wikipedia page, and if you don’t have one, they’re not going to pay attention.

They’re paying attention now.

“I don’t know if people are overlooking me because I’m a smaller heavyweight and I’m kind of the dark horse in the division, just running through people, but I think it’s about time that people start taking notice, start recognizing, and start putting some respect on my name and my gym and what we’re capable of doing,” said Daukaus, who takes on two-time title challenger Derrick Lewis in the main event of the UFC’s final fight card of 2021 on Saturday night at the UFC APEX.

Daukaus won that fight with Oleinik in February, dispatching the 65-fight veteran and Top 15 fixture in less than two minutes to push his record to 3-0 inside the Octagon and climb into the rankings. Two days later, he had a Wikipedia page, signaling to the masses that he’d officially arrived.

He returned to action in September and ventured out of the first round for the first time in his UFC career, dispatching Shamil Abdurakhimov 83 seconds into the second round at UFC 266.

The victory, which he earned on his 32nd birthday, established Daukaus as a fringe contender in the jumbled heavyweight division, and accelerated a career plan that he’d always had in the back of his mind.

OFFICER CHRIS DAUKAUS, UFC FIGHTER

Daukaus took his first pro fight on Oct. 19, 2013, securing a first-round technical knockout victory over a gentleman named Bobby Duvalle in a little over two minutes. A week later, he entered the police academy.

Throughout his rise through the regional ranks and into the UFC, Daukaus juggled both jobs, serving on a unit in the 25th District in Philadelphia where guns and gun violence are an ever-present threat, weaving training to compete against the very best heavyweights the sport has to offer into his hectic schedule.

Pursuing parallel careers is never easy, but Daukaus made it work, found success, and had always thought things through to their different potential conclusions.

“I was going to do a full career with the police department,” he said, explaining his approach to balancing being a fighter and a cop. “If fighting never worked out, I always had the police department, but now that my UFC career is really taking off, I need to completely focus on this, and that’s what I plan on doing.”

Last month, he approached the department about taking a “leave of absence” in order to focus exclusively on the fighting side of his two-pronged career.

He didn’t want to leave the force entirely, but now that he had cracked the Top 10 and was getting ready for his first main event assignment, where a victory would put him on the short list of contenders in the heavyweight division heading into 2022, he thought pressing pause for an indefinite amount of time to really chase this dream made the most sense.

“They pretty much told me to pick a career,” Daukaus said of his request, the disappointment evident in his voice. “I said, ‘Okay, no problem. You just made it real easy for me to pick a career. I’ll see you guys later, here’s all my equipment; I’m leaving.’”

His last day was December 1, and since then, he’s been struggling to find ways to fill all those extra hours that have suddenly opened up in his schedule.

“It’s been real crazy to be a stay-at-home dad and a full-time fighter,” said Daukaus, who was hanging out with his son as we spoke. “What I’ve been finding is that I have this natural inclination to train more and keep doing more, and that’s what I’ve had to balance is not over-training, not always being at the gym; to learn to rest and listen to my body more.

“I’m finding myself twiddling my thumbs and playing video games while my son is napping, just to pass the time between training sessions,” he continued. “It’s good because I’m allowing myself to recover and doing other things, so I’m really happy about that and I’m real excited.

“With the last fight, when I fought Shamil, I felt real good leading into the camp as far as injuries and the wear and tear on your body, and this camp is that much better. I hope and I know that my performance come December 18 is going to show that.”

A RAPID RISE, WITH LITTLE BROTHER RIDING SHOTGUN

Daukaus made his first appearance in the Octagon on Aug. 15, 2020, taking on fellow promotional newcomer Parker Porter in the second fight at UFC 252, the Pay-Per-View event where Stipe Miocic would win his rubber match with Daniel Cormier and solidify his place atop the heavyweight division.

The two things that stood out the most about the streaking contender is that he’d fought Dana White’s Contender Series alum Zu Anyanwu for the Cage Fury Fighting Championships heavyweight strap the previous March, suffering a second-round stoppage loss, and that his kid brother Kyle was a member of the UFC’s middleweight ranks.

“This is awesome; it’s a great experience,” he said of competing on the biggest stage alongside Kyle, who is four years younger, but was a more highly touted prospect throughout their careers. “It would be like us both getting drafted to the NFL or the NBA and us playing together — that’s how I see it. We both reached the pinnacle of the sport in our respective divisions, and it’s something that I love doing.

“But I’ve said this before: if it wasn’t going to be both of us, the big brother in me would want him to absolutely get all the limelight and get to the UFC. I would absolutely take a step back and let him run in the UFC because I know the dedication that he has, the way he lives; he’s a true professional.”

The elder half of The Fighting Daukaus Brothers has enjoyed a rapid rise through the ranks since reaching the UFC, following up his win over Porter with a 45-second knockout victory over Rodrigo Nascimento two months later in Abu Dhabi. Then came the fight with Oleinik in February, and his victory over Abdurakhimov on his birthday; four fights, four wins, four finishes in 13 months leaving on the doorstep of contention in the heavyweight ranks and headlining for the first time.

It hasn’t been nearly smooth for the younger half of the duo, as Kyle has suffered through a miserable year that has included multiple fight and vacation cancellations, a disappointing loss, and a submission victory that was overturned due to an accidental clash of heads.

Chris would certainly feel worse for his kid brother if the star differences between their trajectories weren’t so amusing.

“It’s definitely the running joke going back and forth,” he said with a laugh. “I’m getting all these fights, making it look easy, winning in the first round, and then he’s got four fights booked during the year, but he’s only fought once or twice, things keep falling out.

“It just sucks.”

While his brother’s plight sucks, his own ascent is rare. 

In the span of 16 months, Daukaus has gone from debuting to headlining the final fight card of the year against a tenured member of the Top 5, and with a fifth straight victory this weekend, he can usurp Lewis’ place in the pecking order.

“No, none of this has sunken in,” he said with disbelief in his voice. “This whole 16 months, I’m still waiting to get woken up. This is really the best-case scenario. If you could have written a story about this, this is exactly how you want to write it.

“I think that I beat Derrick Lewis, I beat him in impressive fashion, get a finish, I’m on the very, very, very short list of people who are challenging for that title within the next calendar year. I said in a previous interview that by February 2022, I was going to be the No. 1 or No. 2 ranked guy in the division, and I fully expect that to happen if I beat Derrick.

“I think the only person that has done comparable to what I’ve done is (UFC middleweight champion Israel) Adesanya — he was the champ within two years, so I’m looking to do the same thing.”

A DIFFERENT KIND OF HEAVYWEIGHT

When you conjure up what a potential heavyweight contender looks like in your mind, most people envision fighters like current champ Francis Ngannou or interim titleholder Ciryl Gane — guys that come in north of 240 pounds, all broad shoulders and muscular physiques, looking as ready to pose for Muscle & Fitness as they are to throw hands.

Lewis cuts an imposing image — narrowed eyes and a menacing scowl, beating his chest like a silverback signaling he’s ready to fight while Bruce Buffer excitedly reads off his accolades and bellows his name into the microphone.

Daukaus doesn’t look like a force, but as he’s been quick to point out in the past, “heavyweights are big and slow, but I’m not” and both have served him well thus far.

“I’m not sure why guys are (standing with me),” said the quick-handed heavyweight, who stands six-three and tips the scale at 230 pounds, give or take. “Granted, it’s heavyweight, so anyone touches anyone, there is always that chance that we could go to sleep, and I think that’s what people are counting on.

“I just don’t think people are counting on how fast I truly am once I’m in there with them. You can have the fastest guys sparring with you, but they’re intentionally not trying to hurt you; they’re not trying to put you to sleep. I’m trying to put people to sleep, and with four-ounce gloves, I’m touching people when they don’t think they can be touched or they’re out of range, and that’s my perfect range.”

But while he’s supremely confident in his hands — and the evidence over his first four UFC appearance supports that confidence — Daukaus is fully aware that he’s stepping into the Octagon with a different kind of animal this weekend, one that’s coming off an embarrassing loss at home and hungry to get things moving in the right direction again.

“This fight, the stakes are higher, he carries that power throughout the fight,” he said of Lewis, a Houston native who fell to Gane in an interim title fight at Toyota Center in August. “I’m going to have to be completely switched on for however long this fight lasts.

“He’s the type of guy that if you make one mistake — even if you don’t make a mistake, but you’re slow on the ball, slow moving, he’s going to make you pay for it and it’s going to be really bad for you.

“I have to be at the top of my game,” he added. “I have to be completely switched on and ready to go, and I plan on being that. I plan on making him miss, making him look silly out there, and putting people on notice that, ‘Holy s*** — this Chris Daukaus guy should have had a Wikipedia page a while ago!’”

YEAR-END PLANS

While he could have had a Wikipedia page sooner than he did, folks should have been paying attention regardless, but with a victory over Lewis on Saturday, they won’t have a choice but to give the streaking contender the credit and attention he deserves.

“I run through Derrick Lewis like I have my last four opponents, there’s a very short list of who I’m going to smash to get to that title,” he said. “I see myself getting one more fight, probably in March or April, and that after that, I’m looking to fight for the title around this time in 2022, if not earlier, like September, October, depending how the January fight goes with Ngannou and Gane.

“I can’t wait,” he added excitedly. “I can’t wait to get this win, sit back, enjoy my Christmas, go on a little vacation, and look at that title fight, analyze that title fight and prepare for one more fight before a title fight.”