Dakota Ditcheva has made her PFL return official by successfully making weight.
‘Dangerous’ faces Dutch flyweight Denise Kielholtz in the co-main event of PFL New York on Friday, which is live on talkSPORT.
Ditcheva hasn’t fought since claiming a unanimous decision over Sumiko Inaba at the PFL’s first event in Africa, where she broke her left hand during the fight.
The 28-year-old was then scheduled to return at PFL Dubai in February but injured her other hand during a Thailand training camp, which delayed her comeback further.
Ditcheva, who is 15-0 in her professional MMA career, told talkSPORT.com the time out left her ‘very depressed’ and at one point she ‘felt like my whole world ended.’
But the British female fighting star is now back and ready to make a statement on her long-awaited return.
Ditcheva’s comeback is official
On Thursday, Ditcheva tipped the scales at 125.8lbs for her women’s flyweight bout, with 126lbs the maximum she was allowed to weigh.
Her opponent, Kielholtz, weighed in lighter at 121.8lbs, making the co-main event official.
Elsewhere at the PFL New York weigh-ins, lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov came in at 154.8lbs for his title defence against Archie Colgan.
Undefeated Colorado native Colgan made Friday’s headliner official when he weighed in at exactly the same.
Ditcheva, meanwhile, is a huge favourite ahead of her return to the cage.
She told talkSPORT.com in the build-up to her fight that she plans to get the finish but isn’t taking her opponent lightly.
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‘Dangerous’ may now be even more motivated, given the PFL announced this week it would merge with Jake Paul’s MVP MMA, which could give Ditcheva the chance to fight on Netflix.
‘I’m not underestimating anything about her’
“People underestimate [Kielholtz],” Ditcheva explained.
“She’s very experienced. She’s very aggressive. I’ve watched her for a long time, even before she did MMA. I used to watch her kickboxing fights.
“Everyone thinks about the height difference as well. Denise has always been that height, so she’s always used to fighting people taller.
“She’s not going to be shy with the range — things like that. I’m not underestimating anything about her.
“I’m excited to get in and hopefully it’ll be a good striking match for people to see.”
