Sherdog Prospect Watch: Dakota Ditcheva

When Kayla Harrison departed the Professional Fighters League for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a potential readymade replacement was already in position. Dakota Ditcheva, the 2023 PFL Europe women’s flyweight champion, has done nothing to this point to dispel the notion that she could develop into an organizational cornerstone.

Ditcheva will put her perfect 11-0 record on the line when she confronts Chelsea Hackett in the PFL 4 women’s flyweight co-main event on Thursday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The 25-year-old daughter of multiple-time kickboxing world champion Lisa Howarth, she has secured nine of her 11 professional victories by knockout or technical knockout and another by submission. Ditcheva admits she can feel the promotional oomph being thrown behind her.

“I need the PFL as much as they need me,” she said at the pre-fight media day. “We work well as a team. I’m happy that I’m providing good fights for them, and I’m super grateful they’re pushing my face everywhere and helping me in my career. I’m looking forward to the future with them, for sure.”

Hackett can call upon a striking pedigree of her own. A former WMC muay thai champion, she crossed over to mixed martial arts in 2019, cut her teeth in the Eternal MMA organization in her native Australia, made one ill-fated stop on Dana White’s Contender Series and signed with the PFL. Hackett, 24, debuted with a rear-naked choke submission of Ky Bennett in August, only to fall prey to a Jena Bishop armbar in her second assignment with the company eight months later.

“She’s wanted the fight for a while,” Ditcheva said. “It’s exciting to fight another striker. I think she’s seen quite a lot on me, as well. I’m excited for her to finally get the fight that she wanted and try and showcase her skills. I know she wants to be the one to beat me.”

Ditcheva has stopped all six of her opponents under the PFL banner, five of them inside one round. She put herself in prime position to make a run at the $1 million end-of-season prize on April 4, when she took care of Lisa Mauldin with a knee strike to the body and follow-up punches at PFL 1. It placed her atop the 2024 women’s flyweight standings with six points, alongside Taila Santos and the aforementioned Bishop. Ditcheva does not intend to deviate from her approach.

“I take each fight as if it’s the most important fight ever,” she said, “so I’m not even thinking too much about the next round. I’m fighting this fight as if it’s the million-dollar fight. That’s kind of how my mentality goes. I’ve still got so much more to show and more growing that I’ve been doing in the gym that I want to showcase. Everything’s going really well at the moment.”

At least one preseason favorite has Ditcheva on her radar: current Bellator MMA flyweight champion Liz Carmouche. The well-traveled Carmouche faces Kana Watanabe further down the main draw.

“I think right now we all kind of have the same sentiment—that the champion for PFL prior to this was the European champion, and that was Dakota,” Carmouche said. “I think she is the person that we all have our eyes on for being the contender that’s going to go forward into the finals. She’s the person I think I’m going to have to face in the finals.”

Ditcheva was flattered by the praise.

“It’s good to hear that,” she said. “I think it’d be a really exciting fight. If we do meet, it will be one the fans have wanted, so I’ll be happy with that.”