Dakota Ditcheva plans to place one other world title belt proper subsequent to teammate Kayla Harrison’s earlier than the yr is over.
After successful the 2024 season within the girls’s flyweight division for PFL, Ditcheva lastly returns to motion this Saturday when she faces Sumiko Inaba at PFL Africa. In preparation for her return to the PFL cage, she bought to look at Harrison seize UFC gold with a dominant submission win over Julianna Peña at UFC 316 in June. That second served as an inspiration for the rising PFL star.
“Yeah, it’s loopy. I’ve really bought goosebumps when you concentrate on it,” Ditcheva informed MMA Combating. “Like her journey by MMA, or simply by martial arts sport has been loopy.
“After she received on the market was a great deal of issues on-line, I used to be simply studying all of it as a result of, for me, a journey like that — Olympic gold medalist, involves PFL, cleans everybody on the market. Goes to UFC, cleans everybody on the market. Inside two or three fights, she’s bought the UFC belt. That journey that she’s been on is completely loopy.”
The 26-year-old Ditcheva rolled by the competitors through the 2024 season, which was capped off by a lopsided stoppage win over one-time UFC title challenger Taila Santos within the PFL World Championships in November. Ditcheva has completed all 9 of her PFL opponents as she prepares for a featured spot on a large card for the Skilled Fighters League.
As her stage of stardom continues to develop, and, hopefully, the extent of competitors will get more durable with the development of her profession, Ditcheva leans on the work ethic of Harrison to get her by the powerful instances at American High Group.
“The burden cuts, the dedication she’s bought to coaching, when she’s saying in these interviews, she’s not missed a day working or biking, that lady is within the health club each morning, each afternoon, and between them periods, she’s strolling, she’s working,” Ditcheva defined. “She’s the toughest employee in that health club.
“So to have somebody like that round us and set such an instance like that for us women within the health club is like second to none. That’s why we’re the very best, greatest health club on the earth as a result of we’ve bought examples like that round us. How can we not be impressed and need to hold working arduous after we see folks like Kayla Harrison doing that?”
