UFC Next for Dakota Ditcheva? PFL Champion Explains Reason for Potential Move
12/19/2024 01:30 AM
Dakota Ditcheva is already looking at a future beyond the limitations of the PFL.
After winning the PFL Europe flyweight tournament in 2023, ‘Dangerous’ ran the table during this year’s regular season tournament and playoffs, becoming the promotion’s first-ever global PFL flyweight world champion.
Even more impressive was the fact that she practically ran through former UFC title challenger Taila Santos to win her first $1 million paycheck. Santos previously went toe-to-toe with bantamweight queen Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 275 and in the eyes of many, did enough to dethrone ‘Bullet’ that night.
KO’ing Santos in the second round of their flyweight final, Ditcheva proved that she’s more than just a pretty face backed by the PFL hype machine. She’s a legitimate threat to any woman in any promotion, and after logging another year inside the Smart Cage, she hopes to test herself on a much bigger stage.
“I’m definitely with PFL because I’m in contract for at least another year anyway, so I’ve definitely not finished with them yet,” Ditcheva told talkSPORT. “I’ve got lots of things in the pipeline that we could possibly do. But I think, competition-wise, everyone kind of thinks you need to go to the UFC because they do see me as the top girl in PFL, especially now that I’ve beat Santos. You know, she—everyone thought she beat UFC world champion Valentina [Shevchenko].
“So everyone’s kind of a little bit like, before that fight, it was like, ‘How good is Dakota really? She hasn’t fought anyone,’ type thing. And then when I beat her, now it’s like, ‘Oh, who are you going to fight next?'”
What’s next for the undefeated dakota ditcheva?
Ditcheva is a perfect 14-0 in her mixed martial arts career with an incredible 93% finish rate, including 12 knockouts and one win via submission.
It remains to be seen if ‘Dangerous’ will compete in the 2025 PFL tournament or if the promotion will keep her out of the tournament in favor of a potential superfight.
Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of options for big-money fights under the PFL banner which is why she’s already plotting to follow in the footsteps of two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison and leave the promotion in search of greener pastures and greater challenges.
