Dakota Ditcheva hopes PFL brings her ‘a much bigger problem’ in 2025

Dakota Ditcheva needs to be examined after destroying the competitors en path to the 2024 PFL girls’s flyweight title.

Ditcheva (14-0) cleaned up within the promotion’s inaugural girls’s 125-pound season. She stopped Lisa Mauldin, Chelsea Hackett and Jena Bishop in Spherical 1 to achieve the finals, the place she brutalized former UFC title challenger Taila Santos to win the $1 million prize.

There have been questions on how good the 29-year-old from England actually was after an undefeated profession begin in opposition to largely unproven competitors. She answered a lot of these questions with the efficiency in opposition to Santos, and Ditcheva stated she will really feel the sentiment towards her beginning to change.

“I knew who I used to be up in opposition to and it was a really thrilling matchup for me,” Ditcheva advised MMA Junkie Radio. “It was clearly a giant second for me to struggle someone like Santos, and I really feel like I went into it with the best mindset, not like her. I really feel like she underestimated me lots, for certain. She simply thought I used to be a barbie. I don’t assume she took me critical in any respect. It’s a large win for me.

“I really feel like I’ve gained a whole lot of respect from folks now, which is sweet. I’m not asking folks to be singing and dancing, however individuals are positively taking me significantly as a fighter now, which is sweet to see.”

With Ditcheva’s inventory climbing in a major manner, PFL should resolve methods to greatest use her in 2025. The promotion has not clarified whether or not it intends to run one other season in her weight class, or whether or not she may transfer to its Tremendous Battle PPV sequence.

Ditcheva stated she’s open to all paths ahead, as long as it looks like a stage up. She doesn’t wish to face recycled names in a season format, and hopes PFL can deliver one thing recent to the desk.

“In case you put me in one other season once more, one other match, that’s going to be the place my head goes and I’ll be again on the observe of, ‘I’ve received to win this match,’” Ditcheva stated. “However, I really feel such as you’ve received to offer me one thing that’s going to mentally push me. I don’t wish to be combating the identical folks. Realistically I don’t really feel like that may be factor for them to do. It’s received to be like somebody higher, a much bigger problem.