Dakota Ditcheva was one of the stand out stars of 2024, as seen in MMA News’ end of year awards. The female fighter of the year achieved incredible things in the PFL to prove once and for all that she is the real deal.
The devastating striker has had clear star potential ever since she signed to the promotion but putting her into the regular season would be the real test for her and she passed each hurdle with flying colors. Her trajectory has been so rapid that some have drawn comparisons to the competitor that really kicked the door down for women in MMA, Ronda Rousey.
Rousey’s personality and success inside the Octagon brought a new spotlight to the female side of the sport as she transcended MMA to become a mainstream sports star. Given Ditcheva’s star quality and proven capabilities inside the cage, the Brit could be heading the same way.
In a recent interview with Bloody Elbow, PFL commentator Dan Hardy spoke about what he believes is the key difference between Ditcheva and “Rowdy”. “The Outlaw” thinks that whilst both women have specialist skill sets to some degree, the reigning PFL flyweight champion has shown that she can do everything when she needs to.
“Ronda was a pioneer in martial arts, women’s martial arts in particular, but the reason why she was so effective is because she was particularly overwhelming in one range, right? Like, she came in, she grabbed a hold of somebody, threw them to the floor, and wrenched their arm off. Whereas Dakota, over the last two years, has also shown that she’s a fully well-rounded MMA fighter.”
Her performance in the finals where she dismantled Taila Santos before stopping her in the second round was proof of this. Rousey was able to run right through the opposition that was put in front of her as well until all of a sudden, the sport had moved on. For Ditcheva, she has proven this year that she’s far more well-rounded than the former face of women’s MMA.
“I think that’s another thing that gives people a lot of confidence that she could compete with anyone in the world. She can grapple and stay safe if she hits the floor with a world-class jiu-jitsu player. And her takedown defense coupled with those Muay Thai knees could put anybody away. And she’s also got the frame that’s perfect for this weight class. I could make the argument right now that she could beat anybody in this weight class on the planet.”
