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.
MMA
Dakota Ditcheva clarifies retirement timeline: ‘I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t let go of fighting’
Published
3 weeks agoon
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€
You may like
MMA
Anthony Smith pleads not guilty to four felony charges in Nebraska
Published
7 hours agoon
August 18, 2026
Smith has pleaded not guilty to four felony charges stemming
from a July domestic incident in Nebraska.
Court records confirmed
Smith’s plea, resulting in the cancellation of an arraignment
scheduled for Aug. 17. The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title
challenger is now due back in court for a status hearing Sept. 21
in Sarpy County.
Former UFC title challenger Anthony Smith faces four felony
charges stemming from an alleged July domestic incident in Gretna,
Nebraska
Smith faces one Class 2 felony count involving an attempted Class 1
offense, a terroristic-threats charge and two counts of
first-degree false imprisonment, all classified as Class 3A
felonies. A Class 2 felony in Nebraska can carry a prison term of
one to 50 years, while Class 3A felonies carry up to three years of
imprisonment and 18 months of post-release supervision.
Prosecutors allege that Smith became involved in an altercation
with his wife at a Gretna, Nebraska, bar on July 26. They claim
Smith threatened to kill his wife, forced her into his vehicle and
later attempted to strike her with the vehicle after she exited it.
His wife was not physically injured, according to prosecutors’
account.
Smith has not publicly addressed the allegations. His wife, Mikhala
Renee Newman, previously offered a different characterization of
the incident, saying Smith was experiencing a mental health crisis
and that she had sought help to protect him from himself.
MMA
Glover Teixeira likes the idea of Alex Pereira facing Josh Hokit to earn another heavyweight title shot: 'Knock his ass out'
Published
8 hours agoon
August 18, 2026

Former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira plans to stay at heavyweight.
Pereira moved up to heavyweight at UFC White House as he took on Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title. However, Pereira suffered a knockout loss, as the size and power of Gane proved to be the difference.
After the loss, whether Pereira would stay at heavyweight was unclear, but his coach, Glover Teixeira, said that is the plan.
“He's going to stay at heavyweight; that's the plan,†Teixeira said to Ariel Helwani. … “He wants to fight all the time, but it's good to take time, he fought back-to-back for so long. He wants to fight. Alex always wants to fight.â€
Alex Pereira could face Josh Hokit next
Once Pereira is ready to return, Teixeira isn't sure who will be next for him. The goal is to get back to a heavyweight title shot, so Teixeira believes Josh Hokit could be a logical opponent.
“The plan with them, because Alex is a huge name and an exciting fighter to watch, and he sells. Some fight they will put him right back into the title. For him, pretty much any fight. Maybe we get this fight (Josh Hokit). He's talking a lot of shit. Go over there and knock his ass out and get back to the top, and then get the rematch,†Teixeira said.
Whether or not the UFC has any interest in that fight is unclear. But, on paper, it does make sense, as the winner would likely get a title shot, which is what this fight would do. And, Hokit has been talking trash about Pereira, so the storyline is there to be a co-main event of a numbered card.
Pereira is 13-4 as a pro and is coming off a TKO loss to Gane. He's 10-3 in the UFC and the former middleweight & light heavyweight champion.
Would you like to see Alex Pereira face Josh Hokit next?
This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
Teofimo Lopez Challenges Fathers Corner Decisions After Shakur Stevenson Defeat
DWCS Week 2 official after all 10 fighters make weight
Anthony Smith pleads not guilty to four felony charges in Nebraska
Trending
-
MMA2 days agoJalin Turner explains how he handled the burden of hurting his opponents
-
MMA2 days agoDin Thomas retires from cornering after Gillian Robertson’s UFC 330 loss
-
MMA2 days agoIan Machado Garry sends defiant message after Islam Makhachev defeat
-
MMA2 days agoCharles Johnson’s wild UFC 330 submission was no fluke: ‘Once or twice a week’
-
MMA2 days agoChidi Njokuani explains bizarre UFC 330 weigh-in mix-up
-
MMA2 days agoIan Garry confronts Michael Morales at UFC 330: ‘Make sure you back it up’
-
MMA2 days agoLucas Fernando nearly quit MMA before breakthrough UFC 330 victory
-
MMA2 days agoNeil Magny closes in on Jim Miller’s all-time UFC wins record


