Dakota Ditcheva is coming into this Thursday’s event at the top of the PFL women’s flyweight standings. Ditcheva will be facing off against Chelsea Hackett as he looks to secure a play in the PFL Playoffs.
Dakota Ditcheva PFL Career
The PFL format rewards fighters who secure stoppage victories more than fighters who can get a decision victory. In the current format if a fighter can secure a 1st round stoppage victory then they are rewarded 6 points in the standings. After that, the points decrease until a decision victory where a fighter would get 3 points.
Dakota Ditcheva would start off the PFL season against Lisa Mauldin who was coming into this fight with a record of 6-3. Lisa Mauldin had the crowd backing her as he tried to cause a massive upset. While Mauldin tried her best to overcome the odds she would end up being unsuccessful. After being able to survive multiple punches from Ditcheva. It would be a body shot in which Ditcheva would land which would be the most damaging. After being knocked down due to this shot Mauldin would eventually be able to get back to her feet however, would end up being knocked down moments later. This time it was due to a body kick which would knockdown Mauldin. Once she was back on the canvas Ditcheva would jump on to unleash some ground and pound before the referee would decide to stop the fight.
Currently, in the standings, Ditcheva is sitting at the top of the standings. This is due to Ditcheva having the tiebreaker among the other fighters. Currently, Ditcheva is tied at the top of the standings with Taila Santos and Jena Bishop who were also able to secure first-round stoppages. However, in the PFL the tiebreaker is whoever stoppage is the quickest. Due to Ditcheva being able to stop Lisa in 3 minutes and 54 seconds, this was the quickest out of the rest.
Career before PFL Europe
Before turning professional Dakota Ditcheva fought 4 times as an amateur. Out of those 4 fights she was able to victorious in every single one with 1 victory due to KO/TKO, 1 submission and 2 decision victories. Dakota would then go on to start her professional career over in Cage Steel. Ditcheva would be coming up against Jenny Lin who was also making their professional debut. Dakota was able to get the victory in the first round due to referee stoppage. Dakota would then go on to fight and defeat another 4 fighters before making her debut in a stand-alone fight at the PFL 2022 Playoffs.
In her first fight in the PFL, it would be against Hassan Gaber. Gaber was coming into the fight with a 4-1 record. However, Dakota Ditcheva would be able to secure the first-round stoppage due to clinches knees to the liver after only 58 seconds. This would then give her an invite back for another fight on the championship card. This time she would be against an undefeated fighter as 3-0 Katherine Corogenes would be her opponent. However, just like the rest had tried and failed Katherine would be just the same as she would end up losing in the first round due to a right hook and hammer fists. This victory would let her get an invite into PFL europe for the 2023 season.
Dakota Ditcheva Dominated PFL Europe 2023
Dakota Ditcheva would go on to compete in the PFL Europe for the 2023. PFL Europe follow the same format for the PFL Regular Season. This gives fighters a chance of testing the format out before fighting in the PFL Regular Season. Dakota would open up her campaign with a fight agianst Malin Hermansson in the quarter finals. Dakota would go onto advance to the semi finals as she was able to find the rear naked choke in the first round.
During the semi-finals she would be facing 6-5 Cornelia Holm. While Dakota has been able to find the stoppage victories in either the first or second round Dakota wouldn’t be able to find the stoppage until round 3. This was when she was able to get the stoppage victory due to punches and punch her ticket into the final. During the final she would go on to face 2-1 Valentina Scatizzi for the PFL Europe Flyweight Championship. Dakota would be able to clinch the title due to the doctor stopping the fight after the first round. This was due to a swollen eye which Dakota caused during the first round of action. Dakota would then go on to fight in the next season of the PFL which is where we are currently.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
