The meteoric rise of UK star Dakota Ditcheva continues.
Following her violently quick finish of Lisa Mauldin in April, Ditcheva has sat atop the women’s flyweight division, occupying the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament. That trend continued on Thursday as ‘Dangerous’ stepped inside the Smart Cage at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut for PFL 4.
There, she was tasked with taking out Chelsea Hackett, an Aussie standout determined to climb back into the win column after coming up short during this year’s inaugural card.
15-seconds into their flyweight tournament scrap, Ditcheva landed a nasty straight right hand that sent Hackett crashing to the canvas. Hackett managed to get back to her feet fairly quickly, but she found herself pressed against the cage wall and absorbing an onslaught of strikes from the Manchester native.
Ditcheva DROPS Hackett EARLY! Chelsea survives the knockdown!#PFLRegularSeason LIVE NOW
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🌎 https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI pic.twitter.com/t0rhNGpDKA— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 14, 2024
After putting in some work against the fence for a few minutes, Ditcheva unleashed another flurry and caught Hackett with a left hook to the body that folded her, forcing the referee to step in and call for the stoppage, giving Ditcheva another quick six.
The next MMA superstar…Dakota Ditcheva pic.twitter.com/S8hppzc1jE
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) June 14, 2024
Dakota Ditcheva Will Vie for a Spot in the PFL Flyweight Tournament Final in Her Next Outing
Not only did Dakota Ditcheva keep her ‘O’ intact, moving to a perfect 12-0 in her mixed martial arts career, but she also kept her 100% finish rate in the PFL alive. She’s now knocked out six of her Smart Cage opponents while adding another win by way of submission to her resume.
After a couple of first-round knockouts in 2022, Ditcheva blasted her way through the competition during last year’s PFL Europe tournament, earning KOs against Malin Hermansson, Cornelia Holm, and Valentina Scatizzi en route to banking $100,000 and securing her spot in the PFL’s first global women’s flyweight tournament.
With the win over Hackett, Ditcheva guarantees herself a spot in the tournament semi-final and will move on to face the No. 4 seed, Jena Bishop. The winner of that contest will then face either Taila Santos or Liz Carmouche at the 2024 PFL Championship where $1 million awaits the winner.
Check out Dakota Ditcheva’s post-fight interview below:
