Dakota Ditcheva's strength of schedule since signing with the PFL in 2022 has been nothing short of remarkable.
Ditcheva (14-0) has competed inside the PFL SmartCage nine times in just over two years. She won the PFL Europe tournament in 2023 before capturing the organization’s world championship—and the $1 million prize that comes with it—in 2024.
“Dangerous” hasn’t fought since finishing Taila Santos to claim the PFL world title last November. The 26-year-old is starting to grow frustrated as she waits to find out who—and when—she’ll fight next.
"The belt's amazing, but for me, I want to fight, you know?", Ditcheva said this week during an interview with MMA Junkie. "I loved fighting four times last year, the year before that, I fought three times. The year before that, I fought four times, so I've always been a really active fighter. So this for me now, especially not having anything even lined up is really like mentally challenging for me. Like I've really got to just believe in the process and let everything happen how it should. It's testing me for sure."
Ditcheva, who trains at American Top Team in Florida, admits it was frustrating watching many of her teammates prepare for the PFL 2025 World Tournament. The experience led her to seek refuge with a trip back home to her native Manchester, England.
"That's probably why I went home because at the start of the year I was here in Florida training with nothing lined up", Ditcheva admitted. "Seeing everybody train for this tournament, it was really disheartening for me. So I went home, refreshed a little bit. Now I'm back, ready to get back in the gym and hopefully something will come up by then."
There had been speculation that “Dangerous” might be included in this year’s flyweight tournament, but the competition got under way just over a week ago—without her or Taila Santos, who withdrew due to an injury at the eleventh hour. With many of the organization’s female fighters now tied up in the tournament, Ditcheva is growing increasingly frustrated on the sidelines.
"I'm in contract and you guys have to have me fight", Ditcheva said. "I know that they will pull something out the bag, there's just been a lot of changes obviously this whole year has been a big change for them, so I'll trust that they they bring something for me.
"I get it's hard for PFL, you know?They've put all the girls in the tournament and then now they need to find someone that's that's gonna kind of give me good competition. (They) can't give me someone that's just kind of signed to the PFL and not really had that much experience because it doesn't make sense.
"I've just beat (Taila) Santos (very easily). I think that's another thing that I have to understand is like if I'd had a five-round war with Santos, there would have been a few more people in there that would have been more of a match (for me), but I walked through (her), I walked through everyone last year so it just puts them in a difficult position now and I get it. But I'm sure they'll work to find someone."
