Once upon a time, Dakota Ditcheva was forced to sit on the bystander.
In April, the 2024 PFL women’s flyweight champion let her frustration go after the PFL failed to book her for another fight in a timely manner. Shortly afterwards, it was reported that she would return to Smart Cage on July 19, when the Professional Fighters League launched its first event in Cape Town, South Africa.
There, Ditcheva faces the 8-1 standout Smiko Inaba.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Ditcheva revealed earlier this year that her comments caused some clumsiness with PFL brass, but that all ended up in her favour.
“This sport would probably not be able to visit unless an organization like this has adopted it all around the world,” Diccheva said. “I have to be very grateful for the opportunity to win it in MMA and become a co-main event to make history with cards like this. That’s crazy for me. I think the wait this year was a bit worth it.”
We believe bookings at Dakota Ditcheva PFL will be much more consistent in the future
Diccheva later said that communication with people behind the scenes at PFL has improved and that he now has a better understanding of how it works inside. That’s what I’m sure she’s a little more consistent, at least for her.
In fact, she’s already focused on potential clashes with winners of this year’s flyweight tournament.
“I don’t have much direction yet,” Diccheva said. “I know they’re trying to keep me busy. They have to. You’ll certainly see me fighting this year again. …I’m hungry. When I won it last year, how do they have another champion? They should be challenging me.
“Why am I not in that tournament? It just makes me hungry. This fight isn’t for the belt, so I’m still going with the same hunger, but I’m going to make a statement to everyone that the belts I’m fighting this year should be mine, not theirs.”
It is unclear how long Brit will stick with it when the star of Dichéva rises rapidly.