PFL boss says Dakota Ditcheva can be the 'number one female star on the planet'

The Professional Fighters League has big plans for one of its newest champions.

England's Dakota Ditcheva captured the PFL's women's flyweight championship in 2024 after defeating four opponents in a calendar year to win the 2024 season and bank a cool $1 million as the promotion's new 125-pound champion.

Now the PFL has the tricky task of maximizing Ditcheva's undoubted star power as they try to plan her next steps as one of the PFL's newest stars.

Ditcheva has looked like a superstar from the moment she first stepped into the PFL SmartCage. She came through the ranks via their regional league, winning the PFL Europe women's flyweight title in 2023. That earned her a spot in the global season last year, and she ran the table again to win the season and add the world championship to her European title.

The 26-year-old from Manchester has fought nine times under the PFL banner, and has won all of those fights inside the distance. Now Ditcheva stands as one of MMA's biggest stars outside of the UFC, and one of the best female fighters in the world, PFL co-founder Donn Davis wants to take Ditcheva's star to the next level.

Speaking to TalkSport at the PFL's Champions Series event in Dubai, Davis explained that they're currently gameplanning Ditcheva's year for 2025, and that they have big plans for the undefeated Brit.

"We had dinner with Dakota the other night," said Davis.

"We simply said to Dakota, seven of 10 major MMA (media) organizations named you Fighter of the Year – not Rookie of the Year, not Rising Star of the Year, Fighter of the Year.

"We want you to be the number one female star on the planet, and we're going to get behind you to do that.

"So together, let's outline a plan that that's achieved. That takes personality, that takes drive, that takes being the best fighter, and it takes the company behind you. Let's put all four of those together and do it. Those together and do it. That's what you're going to see from Dakota."

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One no-brainer assignment the PFL can lock in is a homecoming fight for Ditcheva in the UK, ideally in her home town of Manchester.

An event in the city would make a lot of promotional sense, with the likes of Ditcheva, former PFL featherweight world champion Brendan Loughnane, and newly-crowned PFL Europe bantamweight champion Lewis McGrillen all from the area.

And with Davis stating that the PFL will be returning to the UK in 2025, the PFL boss said he expects to see Ditcheva, along with Loughnane, featuring on home soil later this year.

"We are coming to the UK," he confirmed.

"I believe Dakota will be on one of those UK cards, along with her good friend Brendan Loughnane. So I say, look for that. We'd like to make that happen."

The big job now is to find a suitable opponent for Ditcheva. Her bout with former UFC flyweight title challenger Taila Santos in last season's women's flyweight final was thought to be the acid test of Ditcheva's ability to mix it with the very best in the world, and she passed that test with flying colors by handing Santos the first stoppage loss of her career.

Given that Santos had previously shared the cage with the likes of reigning UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, rising UFC contender Erin Blanchfield and Bellator champion Liz Carmouche, that's some achievement.

To borrow an old catchphrase from WCW legend Bill Goldberg, "who's next?"

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