Dakota Ditcheva admitted she briefly considered walking away from mixed martial arts after a series of hand injuries left her questioning whether she would ever compete again.
The undefeated British star (15-0) is set to return to action against Denise Kielholtz (9-5) this Friday at PFL New York. It will be just her second fight since November 2024 after breaking both hands in separate incidents surrounding her victory over Sumiko Inaba in July 2025.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday, Ditcheva revealed that the emotional toll of the setbacks led her to wonder if her fighting career had come to an end.
Asked whether she ever doubted she would return to full fitness, Ditcheva said she initially struggled to process what had happened.
"No, I think in the first few days when I was vlogging, I was like, 'Oh, I'm meant to be doing this,' like, I've broke one hand, now broke another. What's going on here? I believe in the universal art and I know that things happen for a reason. I always believe in that. It's carried me through my whole life, so when I broke two hands, I was like, 'There's a reason for this,' but it took me a few days to get in that mindset."
She explained that her immediate reaction was far more pessimistic.
"At first I was like, 'I think I'm done. Like, I'm actually done with this.' I actually felt like that. I was in Thailand obviously when I broke my hand. For the rest of the holiday I kind of trained just to keep my mind sharp because I know that I can kind of come down to a low level. But yeah, it was really like, 'Oh, may as well just enjoy the rest of this holiday because I don't know what's next,' and that's how I felt."
Ditcheva said missing the PFL event she had been scheduled to compete on in February only amplified those emotions.
"I went to fight week in February, the show I was meant to fight on. I cried that week just being around the PFL fight week people and just seeing everyone doing everything that I was supposed to be doing. So I think it just means so much to me to fight, and it's just difficult. So in that moment, I was really like, 'I think I'm done now,' but I'm never done."
Helwani also asked whether the injuries had forced her to think about life after fighting.
Ditcheva admitted that, for a brief time, she wondered what would come next if she could no longer compete.
"Kind of, but I was a bit like, more so, 'Am I going to have to get a job?' Because I don't see myself doing anything else like a 9 to 5. Yeah, I'm not made for a 9 to 5. So, yeah, I suppose I thought about that in the first few days. But apart from that, I've got my mum that will slap me into shape if I need to. She won't let me be one of them dramatic people for too long."
Now fully recovered, Ditcheva will look to put her injury troubles behind her when she meets former Bellator title challenger Denise Kielholtz at PFL New York on Friday, marking another step in her long-awaited return to active competition.
