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Dakota Ditcheva clarifies retirement timeline: ‘I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t let go of fighting’

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3 months ago

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Dakota Ditcheva clarifies retirement timeline: ‘I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t let go of fighting’

Dakota Ditcheva has become the face of the PFL, and one of the most marketable fighters in the sport, but even as she hits the prime of her career at 27 years old, she's already thinking about the day she calls it a career.

As she prepares for her return to action for the first time in over a year after dealing with injuries, Ditcheva recently mentioned that she was eyeing retirement by 32, but that's not exactly a steadfast deadline. Instead, Ditcheva clarified those remarks by explaining why she's even talking about retirement at this stage of her career, especially as she's just now starting to reach her true potential.

“I think that is what I've seen my whole life is fighters say ‘you know I'm just fighting basically for the money now' or ‘I'm fighting just because I can't let go of it,'†Ditcheva explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I don't want to be in a position where I can't let go of fighting. I want to be able to love other things at the same time. That's my goal. I'm not saying 32, but I do want a family and children, and that's a very hard thing to build when you're putting so much into your career.

“I live a single life, all the time, it's so difficult to even think about one day having a family and it's important to me. I feel like I have to have that cutoff in the back of my mind to be like, I can be done with it at this age and move onto something else. I don't want to be one of them people that's like oh yeah, I'm going to retire and then has to come back until I'm 38. I don't want to do that.â€

Ditcheva definitely has a lot more she wants to accomplish in the sport before she retires, but she's also well aware that even some of the best fighters in the history of the sport struggle to walk away when it's time.

She learned a valuable lesson about the difficulty she might face one day when thinking about retirement after she ran through the PFL women's flyweight tournament, which crowned her as champion at the end.

“I feel like us as fighters are never satisfied,†Ditcheva said. “I felt it already winning a PFL world championship tournament. I thought I was going to be like oh my god, I've got this crazy feeling like I've done it! I was over it in two days. Our careers are always going to be like that. We're going to have this really big high and then it's like now what?â€

Ditcheva has also gained a lot of valuable advice about the right time to walk away from fighting from her mother, who was a multi-time kickboxing champion during her own career.

“My mom's always made it really clear to me that one of her biggest mistakes was she never set herself [up] for after fighting,†Ditcheva said. “That's why she says to me now ‘you've got to know your worth, you've got to get paid right, you've got to go into business and put your money in the right places' and also you want to be a public figure that can go into other things like commentating, or I can run a gym afterwards, or I can do a bit of modeling somewhere, or I can be an actor. That's kind of where I'm at with all this.â€

Right now, Ditcheva is solely focused on her next fight at the PFL New York City card in July and then hopefully getting more active after missing so much time with a hand injury.

But acknowledging that she doesn't want to fight forever just makes Ditcheva that much more motivated to accomplish everything she wants before time runs out.

While she's not saying 32 years old is definitively when she's done with fighting, Ditcheva also doesn't want to overstay her welcome or stick around MMA for the wrong reasons.

That's why she's already thinking about a future beyond MMA but that's still years away from now.

“I don't want to be 32 thinking yeah, I'm going to retire and now I'm like now what?†Ditcheva said. “I want to set a time and OK I'm 32, I'm done, let's move onto something else or 33, that type of thing. I just want to not be a person that's going to be here forever.â€

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UFC Vegas 124: 'Cortes-Acosta vs. Walker' Live Results and Highlights

Published

13 hours ago

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November 7, 2026

By

UFC Vegas 124: 'Cortes-Acosta vs. Walker' Live Results and Highlights
Trending:

Dricus du Plessis' move to light heavyweight teased by next potential opponent

The Octagon remains at the Apex for tonight's UFC Vegas 124 event, a 14-bout fight card headlined by Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Johnny Walker.

Cortes-Acosta (17-4 MMA) will enter this evening's main event with hopes of snapping a two-fight losing skid. ‘Salsa Boy' is coming off unanimous decision losses to Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov in his most recent Octagon appearances. Prior to those setbacks, Waldo had strung together three straight stoppage wins, including a second-round TKO victory over Derrick Lewis.

Meanwhile, Johnny Walker (23-10 MMA) made his return to heavyweight last month and scored first-round knockout victory over Mick Parkin. The 34-year-old Brazilian has gone 2-3 over his past five fights overall.

UFC Vegas 124 is co-headlined by a women's strawweight bout between perennial division contenders Tatiana Suarez and Virna Jandiroba.

Suarez (12-1 MMA) will enter the contest on a two-fight winning streak, this after scoring victories over Amanda Lemos and Loopy Godinez in her most recent Octagon appearances. Prior to those triumphs, Tatiana had suffered her first career loss at the hands of Weili Zhang in a bout for the women's strawweight title.

Meanwhile, Virna Jandiroba (23-4 MMA) most previously competed this past April, where she scored a unanimous decision victory over Tabatha Ricci. Prior to that, ‘Carcará' dropped a decision to Mackenzie Dern in a fight for the promotion's then vacant strawweight title at UFC 321.

Get all of tonight's live results and highlights below (refresh for updates):

UFC Vegas 124 Main Card (8pm EST on Paramount+)

265 lbs: Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Johnny Walker – Walker def. Cortes-Acosta via TKO at 2:27 of Round 3

115 lbs: Tatiana Suarez vs. Virna Jandiroba – Suarez def. Jandiroba by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)

135 lbs: Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith – Smith def. Grant via KO (punches) at 1:00 of Round 1

205 lbs: Billy Elekana vs. Lucas Fernando – Fernando def. Elekana by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

135 lbs: Priscila Cachoeira vs. Nina Milosevic – Milosevic def. Cachoeira via TKO (elbows and punches) at 3:40 of Round 2

125 lbs: Mitch Raposo vs. Marcos Degli – Raposo def. Degli by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

UFC Vegas 124 Prelims (5pm EST on Paramount+)

145 lbs: Ollie Schmid vs. Keiichiro Nakamura – Schmid def. Nakamura by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

265 lbs: Thomas Petersen vs. Gabriel Lorenco – Peterson def. via TKO (punches) at 4:47 of Round 3

125 lbs: Karine Silva vs. Gabriella Fernandes – Silva def. Fernandes by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

145 lbs: Murtazali Magomedov vs. Jose Delano – Magomedov def. Delano by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

145 lbs: Austin Bashi vs. Carlos Calderon – Bashi def. Calderon via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:07 of Round 1

185 lbs: Andre Petroski vs. Mantas Kondratavicius – Petroski def. Kondratavicius via TKO (ground and pound) at 4:39 of Round 2

170 lbs: Seokhyeon Ko vs. Wellington Turman – Ko def. Turman by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)

170 lbs: Jose Souza vs. Jonny Parsons – Souza def. Parsons via KO (punches) at 4:16 of Round 2

Who are you picking to emerge victorious in tonight's heavyweight main event between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Johnny Walker? Share your predictions in the comment section Penn Nation!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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Video: Mo Deen’s vicious knockout sparks all-out brawl with chairs, steel barricades flying at Unhinged 3

Published

15 hours ago

on

November 7, 2026

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Video: Mo Deen’s vicious knockout sparks all-out brawl with chairs, steel barricades flying at Unhinged 3

The influencer boxing scene had a tough night, with a card getting cancelled before the Unhinged 3 main event.

On Saturday, influencer HSTikkyTokky put on a boxing event in Ireland, and in one of the featured contests featured winless Misfits Boxing fighter Mo Deen taking on MrTikTokUK. At long last, Mo Deen got a win, knocking down is overmatched opponent multiple times before delivering a fight-ending knockout.

After the win, Mo Deen leaped into the crowd towards the commentary table, where he attempted to get his hands on English Defence League co-founder and controversial U.K. political activist Tommy Robinson.

From there, Robinson is shown on camera holding a book, and Mo Deen attacked him in the ring, and all hell broke loose. Check out the footage below.

Chairs and even steel barricades were seen being lifted and thrown throughout the melee that took place in and around the ring, and the crowd. A few minutes later, the promotion called the event then and there.

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MMA

Khamzat Chimaevs undefeated teammate reportedly lands UFC 335 fight

Published

17 hours ago

on

November 7, 2026

By

Khamzat Chimaev's undefeated teammate reportedly lands UFC 335 fight
A bitter feud will reportedly come to a head at the
Ultimate Fighting Championship's final numbered event of
2026.

Damian
Pinas (11-1) and Baisangur
Susurkaev (12-0) are reportedly scheduled to clash at UFC
335 on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. VestnikMMA first reported the matchup.

Damian Pinas and Baisangur Susurkaev’s feud leads to reported
UFC 335 fight

Both Pinas and Susurkaev have traded barbs online. Susurkaev
started the feud by claiming to not know who Pinas is. Pinas then
called out Susurkaev after his win over Cesar
Almeida in July. Pinas doubled down on his criticism of
Susurkaev after finishing Andrey
Pulyaev in October.

Pinas has secured stoppage victories in all his professional wins,
with his lone loss coming via disqualification for an illegal kick
on the Brazilian regional scene back in 2024. “The Baba Yaga†has
finished all three of his UFC fights inside the first round since
earning a contract on
Dana White's Contender Series last year.

Meanwhile, Susurkaev, Khamzat
Chimaev's training partner, has also stopped all three of his
UFC opponents. The undefeated Chechen has only seen the judges'
scorecards once in 12 professional wins. While Susurkaev was
originally scheduled to fight Donte
Johnson at UFC
334 in November, he withdrew for undisclosed reasons.

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