Once upon a time, Dakota Ditcheva was fuming over being forced to sit on the sidelines.
In April, the 2024 PFL women’s flyweight champion vented her frustration after the PFL neglected to book her for another fight in a timely fashion. Not long after, it was reported that she would be returning to the Smart Cage on July 19 when the Professional Fighters League launches its inaugural event in Cape Town in South Africa.
There, Ditcheva will face 8-1 standout Sumiko Inaba.
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Ditcheva revealed that her comments earlier this year caused some awkwardness with the PFL brass, but it all ultimately worked out in her favor.
“This sport takes you places you probably wouldn’t be able to visit if it didn’t have organizations like this taking it around the world,” Ditcheva said. “You have to be very grateful with the opportunity you get in MMA and being able to be co-main event on a card like this to make history, it’s crazy to me. I guess the wait this year was kind of worth it.”
Dakota Ditcheva Confident her bookings with the PFL will be much more consistent going forward
Ditcheva later said that her communication with those behind the scenes at the PFL has improved, and she now has a better understanding of the inner workings. That’s left her confident that things, at least for her, will be a bit more consistent.
In fact, she’s already eyeing a potential clash with the winner of this year’s flyweight tournament.
“I haven’t really got much direction yet,” Ditcheva said. “I know they are going to keep me busy. They have to. You will see me fight again this year for sure. … I’m hungry. How they have another champ this year when I won it last year? They should be challenging me, not all fighting each other to get another belt.
“Why am I not in that tournament defending my belt? It just makes me hungry. This fight isn’t for a belt, so I’m still going to go with the same hunger, but I’m going to make a statement to everyone that the belt they’re fighting for this year should be mine, not theirs.”
With Ditcheva’s star quickly rising, it’s unclear how long the Brit will stick around before looking to test her mettle inside the Octagon.
