Dakota Ditcheva was extremely happy to display her all-around mixed martial arts game at PFL Europe 1 in Newcastle.
The young prospect moved to (8-0) as a professional when submitting Malin Hermansson in the first round in front of a loud and rowdy home crowd. Having spent the majority of her fights thus far showing her well-rounded striking credentials, many were surprised at her picking up her first career submission.
“I’m not,” Ditcheva said on The MMA Hour. “I work hard on my ground game. I love it. I just haven’t needed to show it yet, and I’ve obviously had a lot of stand-up and I love to strike, so I kind of always relied on that. But I have got a ground game and a wrestling game — I just don’t use it that often, and I think that’s why people are quite shocked at the moment.
“All I see everywhere is she won by sub, by sub. Like everyone’s so shocked. But me and my team are just really happy that I got to show a little bit of it, but we’re not shocked at all because I am quite good on the ground.”
Dakota Ditcheva Secures First Round Finish at PFL Newcastle
Ditcheva only turned the professional ranks in 2021 and was quickly picked up by PFL the following year. Fast forward to today, and she’s (3-0) with the organisation, having finished Hassna Gaber, Katherine Corogenes, and now Hermansson in the first round, and has competed at the prestigious Maddison Square Garden in New York City.
Lately, many athletes have been transitioning between MMA and boxing, but that’s not something that particularly excites Ditcheva, with some of her weapons being taken away.
“I’ve come from Thai boxing,” Ditcheva said. “So, like kicking and elbows is something that’s so natural to me. If you take that away from me, I’m not really, you know — I like to elbow and I like to kick, striking is my main thing.
“So I don’t feel like I would get the same buzz out of fighting boxing as I would MMA, I’d probably go back to Thai boxing over going to boxing, I think.”
Quotes via MMA Fighting
Following her third career victory with the PFL, Ditcheva kept it simple on social media by saying: “Round 1, see you in Paris.”
The Brit was ecstatic to get an appearance on The MMA Hour, given the platform Helwani has built, and expressed her gratitude for the opportunity.
Featured image credits to PFL MMA
