PFL brought out all its stars for its debut in Cape Town, South Africa this past weekend, including pound-for-pound climber Dakota Ditcheva.
Now 15-0 after her dominant unanimous decision win over Sumiko Inaba, the undefeated superstar had gathered dust on the shelf since her last appearance in November — the eight-month layoff represented, by far, the longest of her MMA career. Ditcheva voiced her concerns about inactivity in recent months, which ultimately led to her getting her wish and landing the Inaba fight. Along with that in-cage return came a fresh new PFL contract as well, as Ditcheva revealed after her win.
Advertisement
Speaking this week on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Ditcheva expanded on what her immediate future with the company entails.
“I am happy now in the end. It took a while,” Ditcheva said. “I fought last November, so it took us a while until something was right for the both of us, but I’m happy now. I’ve secured my future for me and my family. I’ll be there until 2027. How can I not be happy with that? I’m looking forward to hopefully building the division now and challenging someone else. If I’m not champion, I don’t really care about that. I care about winning. I don’t really care about the belt. So, for me, I get to challenge other girls now and I’m happy to carry on doing that, but getting what I deserve out of it at the same time.”
Unfortunately for Ditcheva, her long-awaited return didn’t land as an overall positive. In the opening minute of the third round against Inaba, Ditcheva broke her left hand on a punch. She underwent surgery this week to repair the damage, postponing any hopes of her regaining steam and maintaining a high level of activity.
Advertisement
Ultimately, the negotiation period took as long as it did because Ditcheva stood her ground after her breakthrough run through 2024’s PFL flyweight tournament.
“I just know what I deserve now, and I feel like it just took a little bit of time for them to understand how serious I was about getting what I deserve. I wasn’t really going to settle, as well,” she said.
“It’s difficult. [PFL] haven’t really seen where the division’s going. I want to be somewhere that’s active, and when you keep me out for eight months, you’re not giving me any confidence for me to be active. I’m not OK with sitting out for eight months, and I’m not OK sitting out for longer. So I had to kind of sit down and get a plan with them and know that I’m going to be fighting and I’m not going to be out for another eight months, which is now part of my contract. I have dates in there now. I’ve got time limits where they need to keep me active, and I feel like they understood how serious I was about good opponents and making sure I’m fighting. Once we’d come to that agreement, I felt like we’d come to a good deal in place.”
Ditcheva, 26, has mostly been a silent but violent force throughout her career, letting her work in the cage do much of her talking. That’s still the case, however she gained so much momentum in 2024 that she became a pound-for-pound player; she currently sits at No. 5 here at Uncrowned.
Advertisement
Having that momentum halted by the promotion’s decision-making in 2025 rather than her own was far from ideal.
“For sure, I felt the frustration, but I wanted to stay professional,” Ditcheva said. “Obviously a lot of people went online and stuff [to complain], and everyone’s different. Obviously people are sat out a lot longer than I have. I just kind of wanted to make sure I had a direction first before I started moaning publicly. I felt like it was something PFL and I could solve behind closed doors, and we have in the end.
“I did do that one interview that was telling everyone I don’t know what’s going on, then literally like the next weekend I had a fight announced, so it kind of helped at the same time. I prefer to keep everything private and work through it that way until it’s necessary.”
Going forward, activity shouldn’t be an issue for the British knockout artist thanks to her new contract. Ditcheva shared that she has a certain number of fights guaranteed to fulfill until her contract expires in 2027. So depending on how quickly she fulfills those fights, she can become a free agent earlier.
Advertisement
In the interim, Ditcheva will heal from her broken hand. After that, who knows what could be in store, as she teased the possibility of unexpected possibilities, including non-MMA fights.
“You never know what happens in the next two years,” Ditcheva said. “You could see some kind of — I don’t know. People might lose their mind at the top of these promotions and make us do a crossover. You just don’t know. You’ve got to be patient. Anything can happen in two years. Don’t write me off.”
