Not only is Dakota Ditcheva for real, she may already be one of the best flyweights in the world.
In a monster breakout performance, the undefeated English sensation blew the doors off Taila Santos in Friday’s PFL World Championship finals, winning the $1 million grand prize and announcing herself as a legitimate star of the 125-pound division at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ditcheva (15-0) outclassed Santos (22-4) from pillar to post over two rounds, battering the one-time UFC title challenger with a savage assault of charging knees, low and high kicks, and precise punches in a bout where the skill gap on the feet was apparent from the opening bell.
The finishing sequence was a thing of beauty, as Ditcheva smashed Santos with a standing elbow along the fence then rammed a left hand straight into Santos’ liver, melting the Brazilian instantly.
The official time of the stoppage came at the 4:41 mark of the second round.
A homegrown product of PFL Europe’s prospect system, Ditcheva, 26, now stands tall as one of the faces of the organization after turning in a perfect 4-0 campaign in 2024 with four highlight-reel knockouts.
“I’ve been telling you. I was trying to tell you,” an ecstatic Ditcheva said. “Maybe [they’ll listen now]. I’m sure they’ll still be moaning about me, but I’ll just keep proving them wrong.
“Right from the beginning of the season, if I’d gotten her in the first round, I would’ve done the same thing. [Santos and her team have] been talking, she’s been saying, ‘She’s just a Barbie, she should be a model.’ Well a model just beat your ass in Round 2, so shut up.”
In the night’s main event, Dagestan’s Timur Khizriev (18-0) dominated 2022 PFL champion Brendan Loughnane (30-6) in a lopsided contest to win PFL’s featherweight tournament and its $1 million prize.
Khizriev beat Loughnane in all facets of the game, badly bloodying the Brit’s face with volume in the standup and taking him down at will.
A transplant from the Bellator merger, Khizriev won four decisions en route to his perfect 4-0 PFL debut season, defeating UFC veterans Brett Johns and Enrique Barzola, as well as Gabriel Alves Braga and Loughnane to claim featherweight gold.
The three judges in Friday’s contest scored the bout 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46 in Khizriev’s favor.
“I picked apart my opponent and I was ready for all the moves he was preparing for me,” Khizriev said. “I knew everything that he was going to do and I was here today to counter him.”
Elsewhere on the card, Dovlet Yagshimuradov (25-7-1) ended the storybook run of Impa Kasanganay (18-6) in violent fashion, knocking out the PFL 2023 light heavyweight champion in just 58 seconds to win this season’s 205-pound bracket.
Yagshimuradov badly hurt a hard-charging Kasanganay with a counter right hand in the opening exchange, then poured on a ferocious series of left hands and right uppercuts to capture $1 million and become the first major MMA champion to hail from Turkmenistan.
Aside from Ditcheva, perhaps the biggest breakout name of PFL’s 2024 season was Shamil Musaev (18-0-1). The Russian marauder finished off a monster campaign with a highlight-reel knockout of previously unbeaten Magomed Umulatov (17-1) to cash $1 million and win the welterweight tournament finals.
The bout was a classic case of two standout talents negating one another, as Musaev vs. Umulatov lacked significant action until Musaev faked a right hand then exploded into a left hook along the fence, catching Umulatov clean and swiftly ending the fight at the 1:44 mark of Round 3. Musaev now exits 2024 with a trio of knockouts over former Bellator interim champion Logan Storley, Murad Ramazanov, and Umulatov, having firmly planted his flag as one of MMA’s top welterweights outside of the UFC.
In a battle of Bellator imports, Gadzhi Rabadanov (24-4-2) downed former Bellator champion Brent Primus (15-3, 1 NC) with a third-round barrage of punches to win the lightweight bracket and $1 million.
Rabadanov largely used his wrestling to control Primus for the opening two rounds but found his best success on the feet, knocking down Primus twice with punches before catching him flush with a monster combination to secure the fight-ending sequence at the 2:31 mark of Round 3. A 31-year-old Dagestan native and teammate of UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, Rabadanov has won 10 consecutive bouts and now holds a perfect 11-0 record under the Bellator and PFL banners dating back to 2019.
Opening up the main card, heavyweight veteran Denis Goltsov (36-8) made good on his fifth attempt at PFL glory, snatching a first-round submission and snapping the 17-fight win streak of Oleg Popov (19-2).
Working from the bottom after an early Popov takedown, Goltsov threw up a triangle choke, transitioned to an armbar, then moved back to the triangle to coax a $1 million tapout at the 2:55 of Round 1. A 34-year-old Russian sambo artist, Goltsov finally reaches the PFL mountaintop after four previous failed seasons, two which ended in the semifinals (2019, 2021) and one of which ended in the finals (2023).
Afterward, Goltsov called for a 2025 fight with PFL’s star heavyweight Francis Ngannou.
Catch complete PFL World Championship 2024 results and highlights here.
