Bianca Daimoni confused former WBC International Bantamweight and EBU Europe’s super flyweight champion Ashley Brace in a naked knuckle boxing match at BYB in February, defeating the pro boxers in Cardiff’s enemy territory and already felt like a winner.
Daimoni’s BYB bare knuckle debut came almost five years after her last professional match, a one-night tournament under Rio de Janeiro’s Shooting Brazilian Banner. Since then, Daimoni has had a near-death experience during the Covid-19 pandemic and has survived to realize that his mother hadn’t accomplished it.
The 38-year-old veteran was devastated after suffering the first knockout loss of her career at the hands of Mariana Morais, who was awarded a shot at lighter star Kayla Harrison under the PFL banner shortly after the victory. Daimoni thought that ending like that would be the end of her career and then a pandemic hit.
In a year, we never expected to book a fighter in a foreseeable future. Daimoni tested positive for Covid-19 in February 2021, as did his mother, who lived in the same house.
“My mother was 63 and she was a little stubborn so I didn’t want to go to the hospital,” Daimoni told MMA Fighting. “We were at home for three days and it got worse. I remember she said she would just go to the hospital if she went with me. By the time I got there, it was pretty bad. I lost 70% of my lungs in three days.”
The local hospital was full and mother and daughter had to share a room. They both got worse and after one bed was available in the ICU, the doctor had to make a tough decision.
“They chose to take me to the ICU because I was young and there was a high chance that I would come out of the ICU,” Daimoni said. “It was a very difficult moment. I never thought it would be that bad. I basically had no lungs. I didn’t know what the intubation was. I was still calm. On my first day in the ICU, I had to revive, so I thought I wouldn’t make it.
Daimoni was in coma for 8 days. She felt better, but she felt better until she returned to her room.
“I woke up, but my mother wasn’t there,” Daimoni said. “I went back to my wheelchair room and started looking for her. When I got there, there was another woman on my bed. It was a very difficult process.
Daimoni was cleaned up from the hospital the next day and went home, but her life wasn’t the same. She fought for her life and survived the induced coma, but lost some of her love for life, where her mother was gone.
“It had an impact on my mental state,” Daimoni said. “So I was away for a long time. I didn’t have any pleasure in doing that, so I continued to postpone my return. I had a few offers and I always agreed to it, but then I came up with an excuse not to come back.”
On top of that, an old back injury from her Invicta FC day has returned and forced her to undergo surgery in 2023. Released after a hospital surgery, Daimoni said her husband and coach, along with her teammates and friends, encouraged the gloves to be brought back to the competition. There have been years since no fights, and one offer that actually came was to have her gloves removed to compete.
Check out the matches below.
Daimoni considered coming up with another excuse to get out of BYB’s match against Brace, but did it for a victory by split decision. With promotions and three more fights, and the doors open for MMA returns, Daimoni wants to stay active in 2025.
“I’m interested in Invicta, but I also enjoyed bare knuckle boxing,” said Daimoni, who holds an 8-4 MMA record with five knockouts. “I had to fight myself to go back and win. I knew that. And my husband helped me throughout this process. We live in a small town. Everyone knows most of each other, so everyone supports me and that made a lot of sense.”