For the top seed at women’s flyweight, Dakota Ditcheva is seeking to stamp her claim as being the next great breakout star of women’s mixed martial arts.
Ditcheva, who turned 26 back on July 11, is a perfect 12-0-0 in her MMA career, after a 10-1 record in Muay Thai, where she won two world championships. One victory came by submission, one by decision, but every other victory in Ditcheva’s career has come by knockout, showing an uncharacteristic level of power for her taller frame.
Standing 5-foot-8, Ditcheva is one of the tallest female fighters on the PFL roster. Typically you would find taller fighters use their length to create distance, and are more technically sound in a grappling game. Ditcheva has had several highlight-level knockouts in the past two years, as her leverage provides an exceptional level of speed and follow through on her strikes.
Her 70-inch reach is more than four inches better than any of the three remaining fighters in the 2024 women’s flyweight season, and is only surpassed by a few PFL women’s fighters at higher weight classes.
Of Ditcheva’s 12 victories, the past four have come by way of knockout, with the latest three being TKO victories. “Dangerous,” as she is nicknamed, will face Jena Bishop in the semifinals of PFL 7 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. As a date has not been set for the finals by the PFL, the winner of Ditcheva/Bishop will face either Talia Santos or Liz Carmouche.
As fighters only have two regular season fights, the PFL standings are based on victories, and what round a finish came under. A victory earns a fighter a guaranteed three points. Should a fighter finish their opponent in round one, they are awarded three bonus points, second round two, and final round one. No bonus points are awarded for a decision victory.
Ditcheva earned 12 points, making her the only fighter in the 2024 PFL regular season to have a perfect record, men or women, meaning both of her victories were first round stoppages. Men’s featherweight Brendan Loughnane and light heavyweight Impa Kasanganay earned 11, due to a second-round finish.
A member of Manchester Top Team, Ditcheva is currently working with American Top Team being in the United States for the 2024 season.
Ditcheva began fighting professionally at 18 in Muay Thai, where she was the 2016 IFMA Female Junior Champion at 56 kg, and the ISKA British Muay Thai 51 kg (Super Atomweight) Champion. Her only loss was via decision in her final professional Muay Thai fight before moving to MMA.
In 2022, Ditcheva signed with the PFL, and began competing in the PFL Europe division. In 2023, she was crowned the PFL Europe Women’s Flyweight Tournament Champion, after a referee stoppage at the close of the first round, swelling her opponent’s (Italy’s Valentina Scatizzi) eye closed.
The PFL is the evolution of the World Series of Fighting (WSOF), which was founded in 2012. In 2017, the PFL acquired the WSOF, restructuring it as the first league-based model MMA promotion in the world. November of 2023 saw the PFL acquire Bellator MMA, enabling fighters to compete between the promotions. This is the primary reason why the PFL did not hold a 2024 season at women’s lightweight.
Kayla Harrison burst onto the PFL scene in 2019, having won 21 gold medals in judo during international competitions, including the 2010 World Championships, and the 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio de Janeiro) Olympic Games. Harrison was the 2019 and 2021 PFL World Champion, finally being defeated in the 2022 finals by Brazil’s Larissa Pacheco. Harrison has since signed with the UFC, while Pacheco is rumored to be gearing up for an eventual superfight with current Bellator Women’s Lightweight champion, Cris “Cyborg” Santos.
Harrison choked out former World Champion Holly Holm in her UFC debut fight back in April.
While Cyborg is a household name, and Harrison will be exposed to a whole new audience, Ditcheva has carte blanche potential once 2025 comes around. Should she move to the UFC, she would be in the same division as former world champions Rose Namajunas, Jessica Andrade, Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko, and current champion Alexa Grasso. Already Ditcheva is drawing strong comparisons to current UFC #2-ranked contender Manon Fiorot, who sports a 12-1-0 record, with 11 finishes (6 KO, 5 submission).
Personally, I wish Ditcheva to stay in the PFL/Bellator umbrella, and not jump to the UFC like so many others before her. Eventually we may see her one day in the promotion, but there is no shame from dominating the most competitive and up-and-coming promotion in MMA. A single loss can cost a fighter an entire year to contend for a championship in the PFL, while UFC gives often undeserved and premature chances for their more established champions.
-JC24
-JC24