- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,257,229
- Reaction score
- 59
It seems that Professional Fighters League fans will be waiting a while to see Dakota Ditcheva compete again.
Ditcheva (16-0, 11-0 PFL) is once again dealing with hand injuries. The 28-year-old earned a unanimous decision victory over Bellator MMA veteran Denise Kielholtz in the PFL New York co-main event, with “Dangerous” sweeping the scorecards. The British fighter, who is ranked No. 10 in Sherdog’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings, revealed on her YouTube channel that she had reinjured both hands.
“Breaking news. I am injured again,” Ditcheva said in the vlog. “I broke my hands in the [Kielholtz] fight. 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.”
The Kielholtz bout was Ditcheva’s first fight in more than a year, following her dominant victory against Sumiko Inaba in July 2025. Against Inaba, the American Top Team representative broke her hands for the first time. She suffered another hand injury early this year, forcing her out of a scheduled meeting with Kielholtz at PFL Dubai in February before the fight was eventually rebooked.
Cris Cyborg’s final MMA bout headlines PFL Tampa: Tune in on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.
“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,” she added. “The good thing is I have no new breaks. It's just that if I explained the hand that wasn't operated on originally that I broke at the end of last year, I was told that if I didn't go ahead with the surgery at that time, there was a possibility that it would break again in my fight. 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. It's no new injury.”
Ditcheva said she expects to be sidelined for “a little bit.” When she returns, she is expected to meet 2025 tournament champion Liz Carmouche in a highly anticipated matchup.
Continue reading...
Dakota Ditcheva reinjured both hands against Denise Kielholtz at PFL New York and expects to be sidelined before a potential Liz Carmouche fight
Ditcheva (16-0, 11-0 PFL) is once again dealing with hand injuries. The 28-year-old earned a unanimous decision victory over Bellator MMA veteran Denise Kielholtz in the PFL New York co-main event, with “Dangerous” sweeping the scorecards. The British fighter, who is ranked No. 10 in Sherdog’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings, revealed on her YouTube channel that she had reinjured both hands.
“Breaking news. I am injured again,” Ditcheva said in the vlog. “I broke my hands in the [Kielholtz] fight. 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.”
The Kielholtz bout was Ditcheva’s first fight in more than a year, following her dominant victory against Sumiko Inaba in July 2025. Against Inaba, the American Top Team representative broke her hands for the first time. She suffered another hand injury early this year, forcing her out of a scheduled meeting with Kielholtz at PFL Dubai in February before the fight was eventually rebooked.
Cris Cyborg’s final MMA bout headlines PFL Tampa: Tune in on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.
“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,” she added. “The good thing is I have no new breaks. It's just that if I explained the hand that wasn't operated on originally that I broke at the end of last year, I was told that if I didn't go ahead with the surgery at that time, there was a possibility that it would break again in my fight. 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. It's no new injury.”
Ditcheva said she expects to be sidelined for “a little bit.” When she returns, she is expected to meet 2025 tournament champion Liz Carmouche in a highly anticipated matchup.
Continue reading...
