Bianca Daimoni upset former WBC international bantamweight and EBU European super flyweight champion Ashley Brace in a bare-knuckle boxing match at BYB in February, beating the pro boxer in enemy territory in Cardiff, and already felt like a winner by getting back in action.
Daimoni’s BYB Bare Knuckle debut happened nearly five years after her last professional bout, a one-night tournament under the Shooto Brazil banner in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, Daimoni has a near-death experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and survived to realize her mother didn’t make it.
The 38-year-old veteran was devastated after suffering the first knockout loss of her career by the hands of Mariana Morais, who was awarded a shot at lightweight star Kayla Harrison under the PFL banner immediately after the win. Daimoni thought that getting finished like that would be the end of her career, and then the pandemic hit.
A year later, and with no hopes of getting fighter booked in the foreseeable future, Daimoni tested positive for COVID-19 in February 2021. And so did her mother, who lived in the same house.
“My mom was 63, and she was a little bit stubborn, so she didn’t want to go to the hospital,” Daimoni told MMA Fighting. “We stayed at home for three days, but the it only got worse. I remember telling her I would only go to the hospital if she went with me, and by the time we got there, it was pretty bad. I lost 70 percent 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 the doctors had to make a tough decision after one bed was made available in the ICU.
“They opted to take me to the ICU because I was younger, and the odds of me coming out of the ICU were higher,” Daimoni said. “It was a very, very difficult moment. I had no idea it was that bad. I basically had no lungs. I had no idea what a intubation was, and it kind of helped stay calm. The first day in the ICU, I was so bad they had to revive me. They thought I wouldn’t make it. My family says [the doctors] were like, ‘Let see if she makes it through the night.’”
Daimoni was in coma for eight days. She woke up feeling better, but only until she went returned to room.
“I woke up, and my mom wasn’t there,” Daimoni said. “I went back to the room on a wheelchair and started looking for her. When I got there, there was another lady on the bed. [The doctors said] ‘Your mother passed away two days ago.’ It was a very, very difficult process, because I didn’t see anything. I almost don’t even believe it happened. I have to believe the things they told me and that’s it. There was no funeral, nothing.”
Daimoni was cleared from the hospital the next day and went back home, but her life wasn’t the same. She fought for her life and survived an induced coma, but lost part of her love for life with her mother gone.
“That affected my mental state,” Daimoni said. “That’s why I was away [from fighting] for so long. I kept postponing my return because there was no joy in doing it. I had some offers, and I always agreed to it, but then came up with an excuse not to come back.”
On top of that, an old back injury from her Invicta FC days returned and force her to have surgery in 2023. Released from hospital post-surgery, Daimoni said her husband and coach, alongside with teammates and friends, incentivized her to put the gloves back on to compete. It’s been years with no fights, and the one offer that came actually had her remove the gloves to compete.
Watch the match below.
Daimoni considered coming up with another excuse to pull out of the BYB match against Brace, but made it through for the win via split decision. With three more fights under contract with the promotion — and doors open for a MMA return —, Daimoni wants to stay active in 2025.
“Invicta is interested, but we also enjoyed bare knuckle boxing,” said Daimoni, who holds a MMA record of 8-4 with five knockouts to her credit. “I had to fight myself in order to come back and win. I knew that. And my husband helped me throughout this whole process. We live in a small town, and everybody pretty much knows each other, so everybody supported me and that meant a lot.”
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