Dakota Ditcheva said her recent yearlong layoff taught her plenty and made her grateful to finally be back.
She may be about to repeat the experience.
Ditcheva posted a video on her YouTube channel Sunday saying she broke both her hands in her return fight in the PFL New York co-main event July 31 on Long Island. Ditcheva (16-0) had to go the distance against Denise Kielholtz (9-6), but took a unanimous decision.
The presumption was that she lined up a fight with former Bellator champion Liz Carmouche for PFL's inaugural women's flyweight title with the win, but now the 28-year-old British unbeaten standout says she'll be back on the shelf.
"Breaking news: I am injured again. I broke my hands in the fight," Ditcheva said in her video. "I could feel
it from the second I started the second round. I didn't tell my corner. I didn't tell anybody. I didn't show it this time, and I didn't actually tell anybody until I got out of the cage.
"I am back in splints until my surgeon has decided what the next steps are going forward, which will be in the next few days."
Ditcheva beat Sumiko Inaba in July 2025, but was sidelined until PFL New York because she broke both hands in that fight. She said her injuries from the win over Kielholtz are not new, but instead the result of her fighting without a recommended surgery.
"I was told that if I didn't go ahead with the surgery (last year), there was possibility that it would break again in my fight," Ditcheva said. "And unfortunately, I took the risk in not doing the surgery because I was hoping that it would hold strong without intervening with that kind of thing – and it didn't. So it's no new injury.
"It was a choice of mine to have the surgery the first time and I didn't. So therefore, I'm paying the price for it now and I will be out for a little bit. It is what it is. I'm going to move forward. I have honestly cried nonstop the last week."
Regardless of how long she's on the shelf, her days as a PFL fighter have come to an end since she's not likely to be back before the promotion officially mergers with Jake Paul's MVP MMA in 2027.
"I will be back," she said. "This is not going to take me out. My career is not done. Although it felt like that once again, I will be back. I'm hopefully going to be back quicker than I was last time."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dakota Ditcheva says she broke both hands – again – at PFL New York
