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Dylan Budka | Hitting Restart
Dana White Contender Series Alum Opens Up About Depression, Starting Fresh In 2025
Everyone thinks they’re ready to compete in the UFC. Everyone believes there will be no hiccups, no adjustment period, no obstacles standing their way as they transition from the regional ranks to the biggest stage in the sport.
And when the time comes for them to make the walk and cross the threshold into the famed UFC Octagon, everyone thinks they’re going to hit the ground running, dominate their opponent, and secure the first of what will be numerous victories on the way to eventually claiming championship gold.
“I didn’t know that I had so much to fix until I got here,” said Dylan Budka, a member of the Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) Class of ’23 who believed all of those things until he went 0-2 in his rookie season on the roster in 2024. “I didn’t know there were areas I really needed to improve in and really take on full force.”
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The 25-year-old middleweight, who returns to action this weekend in a main card clash with Edmen Shahbazyan, pushed his record to 6-2 with his contract-winning victory over Chad Hanekom on Season 7 of the annual talent search series.
It was a grueling win in a fight taken on short notice just a couple weeks after he’d earned a victory while weighing in just north of the light heavyweight limit for a heavyweight matchup on the regional circuit, and with the combination of his youth and solid resume, Budka seemed like the precise type of long-term prospect you give an opportunity to, hoping that things click and come together.
Looking back on his freshman year on the roster, Budka is quick to acknowledge that he wasn’t prepared to make the transition to the varsity squad, especially mentally.
“I was going through a lot of stuff, mentally,” he began, offering generalities about mistakes he was making outside of training and changes that needed to be made in order to be at his best in his new surroundings. “No excuses, but I got in there and wasn’t fully prepared mentally for what was in there waiting.”
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When asked to elaborate on what was hindering his ability to be fully present and properly prepared for his first year competing in the UFC, the thoughtful middleweight opened up about his father’s passing and the depression that followed.
“Right before I got the call, my pops passed, and I didn’t really have enough time to focus on grieving and just being better, mentally,” he said. “For other people that have lost their parents, that stuff sucks, and there was so much happening when he did pass that I didn’t realize how much it affected me.
“It was really hard to be motivated when everything was going on — hard to be focused on what my opponent will be doing, hard to be focused for my fight camp because the only thing that was on my mind was making it through another day (dealing with the depression).
“Truthfully, this is the first time many people are gonna know what was going on behind closed doors,” he added. “It’s way more powerful than people think. You don’t realize how powerful it is until you get through it, so I’m just happy that I’m over it, and I hope after I get this win I can spread a little bit of awareness around for it and talk about it, because I never talked about it.”
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The turning point for started to present itself the day before his fight with Andre Petroski in September, when he stepped on the scale at 188.5 pounds, a full two-and-a-half pounds above the middleweight limit. It became even more illuminated the following evening when he was taken down and held there by the Philadelphia product and Ultimate Fighter alum.
One year and two days after claiming the biggest victory of his career, Budka was 0-2 in the UFC, having just missed weight, and he knew it was time to make serious changes.
“The day after the Petroski fight, I was in the hotel and I was like, ‘We gotta get on some stuff. We gotta fix this now!’” he said, beaming with excitement. “We made an entirely new workout schedule, I have a jiu jitsu coach, I have a boxing coach, I have an MMA coach, and we’re getting it down so that I don’t get taken down and held down by a wrestler like Petroski and I can strike with a striker like Cesar (Almeida), and make up for the mistakes I made in my first two fights.”
It undoubtedly sounds odd to some that people reach the highest level in mixed martial arts and still have so much they need to change and don’t know, but there’s a reason everyone knows the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
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Before he got to the UFC, Budka had gone 7-1 in his previous eight fights, with his lone setback coming by split decision in a bout with Azamat Bekoev, who just defeated Zachary Reese in his own short-notice debut earlier this year.
Things were working, nothing felt broken, and so nothing appeared in need of fixing. But a stoppage loss against Almeida and his miserable weekend opposite Petroski illuminated the issues that needed to be addressed.
He’s spent the four months since that contest doing just that, and is now chomping at the bit to show everyone what he’s truly capable of inside the Octagon.
“I’m really excited to show everybody what I’m about to do on February 15th,” said Budka, unable to contain his excitement. “We have really started over like it’s my debut again. What happened happened, but this is my UFC debut in my head; this is where I show everybody what I’m capable of doing.
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“Last year sucked, it was horrible, but the only thing we can do now is take over — take over and make this year about me; show everybody I can do it, and it starts February 15th.
“I’m ready to show people I can stand 10 toes down with everybody in that middleweight division.”
UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Rodrigues took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 15, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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