Dakota Ditcheva plans to place one other world title belt proper subsequent to teammate Kayla Harrison’s earlier than the 12 months is over.
After profitable 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 acquired to observe 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 truly acquired 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 gained 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 acquired the UFC belt. That journey that she’s been on is totally loopy.”
The 26-year-old Ditcheva rolled by the competitors throughout 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 an enormous card for the Skilled Fighters League.
As her degree 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 robust occasions at American Prime Workforce.
“The burden cuts, the dedication she’s acquired to coaching, when she’s saying in these interviews, she’s not missed a day operating or biking, that lady is within the gymnasium each morning, each afternoon, and between them classes, she’s strolling, she’s operating,” Ditcheva defined. “She’s the toughest employee in that gymnasium.
“So to have somebody like that round us and set such an instance like that for us women within the gymnasium is like second to none. That’s why we’re the very best, greatest gymnasium on the planet as a result of we’ve acquired examples like that round us. How can we not be impressed and wish to preserve working onerous after we see folks like Kayla Harrison doing that?”
