Fresh off her dominant, head-turning 2024, Dakota Ditcheva’s career has come to a standstill.
The 2024 PFL Flyweight Champion hasn’t been seen since last year, when she extended her undefeated record to 14 consecutive bouts with a four-pack of finishes.
It’s been nearly five months since Ditcheva last fought, beating former UFC title challenger Taila Santos handily to become PFL champ. Months later, it’s still unclear when her next possible appearance in the PFL cage could emerge. There aren’t any fights in the process of being made for her, as she recently revealed to MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn.
“I’m not hearing a lot,” Ditcheva said, in response to when her next PFL appearance might be. “Obviously their tournament has just kicked off for the girls, which I’m super happy for everyone that’s in it… Kind of. I’d like to be in it myself, but I am happy to see, obviously, the girls still building a division, making an effort to kind of get that going.”
The 26-year-old Manchester-based fighter said that PFL was possibly aiming to make her return roughly a full year after her last fight.
“The only thing I’ve really heard is that the winner of that tournament might fight me at the end of the year,” Ditcheva explained. “Which is fine, but leaves me a very long time without a fight. So I’m hoping that me and PFL can work something out before then.”
Since her 2021 pro debut, Ditcheva hasn’t gone a year without fighting at least three times. So, it’s safe to say that the past few months have been “disheartening” for her, as she put it.
Ditcheva is now one of the many prominent PFL names who have all griped about the same issue: Inactivity. Other fighters like Patricio Pitbull, Patchy Mix, Aaron Pico, Corey Anderson and Cris Cyborg have complained about being benched by the promotion, with some of the names forcing their way out of a deal with the company to pursue options elsewhere.
PFL has few opportunities currently available for fighters who aren’t competing as part of their main “World Tournament.” The promotion has a “Champions Series,” a tour meant to create one-off, “Fight Night” events unrelated to their annual tournament, although the brand doesn’t have any cards announced currently and hasn’t presented an event since January.
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