Professional Fighters League (PFL) continues to have disgruntled athletes.
The 2025 PFL World Tournament is nearing its final event of a three-week stretch tomorrow. Last week, the Women’s Flyweight tournament took place, but one major name was conspicuously absent: 2024 champion and PFL star Dakota Ditcheva.
Unfortunately, it looks like she might not be fighting for quite a while.
I’m not hearing a lot,” Ditcheva told MMA Junkie recently. “Obviously, the tournament has just kicked off for the girls, which I’m very happy for everyone, kind of. I’d like to be in myself…For me, I don’t really know what’s happening. The only thing I’ve heard is the winner of the tournament might fight me at the end of the year, which is fine, but it leaves me a very long time without a fight. I’m hoping me and PFL can work something out before then and get me back in the cage.”
Ditcheva won the 2024 PFL title by stopping former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Taila Santos in the second round last November (watch highlights) and is eager to return to action.
“I’m gutted that I haven’t had anything just yet,” Ditcheva said. “I’m just like, get me anything. Literally, I get it’s hard for PFL. They’ve put all the girls in the tournament. Now they have to find someone that’s going to give me a good competition. They can’t give me someone that’s just kind of signed to the PFL because it doesn’t make much sense. I’ve just beat Santos very easily.”
To be fair, only one 2024 champion returned for the 2025 World Tournament, with all the others sidelined as well. Still, Ditcheva joins a growing list of PFL champions and stars like Johnny Eblen, Patchy Mix, and Corey Anderson who are in limbo with no fights scheduled.
PFL announced multiple “super fight” cards for this year, which would feature the fighters mentioned above, but those have yet to be confirmed. This delay has left prominent fighters frustrated, as they’re missing out on the prime of their careers.
It feels like a major missed opportunity not to include Ditcheva on the upcoming PFL Europe 1 2025 card, headlined by Paul Hughes. There are notable former UFC flyweight fighters who are currently free agents and would be strong additions to Ditcheva’s resume.
All in all, no one knows what PFL is doing this year, beyond the 2025 World Tournament and the launch of PFL Africa. But does anyone even care about that when some of the best fighters in the world are stuck on the sidelines in career limbo?
You cannot spell PFL without a giant capital L.
For all the latest PFL news and notes click here.
