Fans call for UFC to sign rival PFL’s $1 million tournament winner after UFC London cameo

Dakota Ditcheva spark interest in the MMA community after her brief cameo appearance at UFC London in O2 Arena.

Fans call for UFC to sign rival PFL’s $1 million tournament winner after UFC London cameo

Dakota Ditcheva's UFC London cameo sparks potential move away from PFL (Source: X/IMAGO)

A British superstar, who is not under contract to the UFC, caused a stir online in the MMA community. This was after she was spotted at UFC London fight night last weekend. The O2 Arena affair had quite some exciting moments. However, one blink-and-miss-it moment was a brief appearance from PFL’s Dakota Ditcheva!

Dakota Ditcheva is PFL’s $1 million flyweight tournament winner, who has strung up 14-0 record. The all-around Brit starlet has often faced questions about transitioning to the No. 1 premier promotion, aka UFC. She already faces comparisons to other UFC/MMA standouts; Ditcheva also very recently trained with ATT teammate bantamweight Kayla Harrison, a two-time PFL lightweight champ and Olympian.

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Such talks over seeing her over at this side of the fence went haywire once again on Saturday at UFC London. Ditcheva was seated behind UFC 155-pound rising star Paddy Pimblett. Such notions might not have been so vigorous a while back. But after PFL fumbled the ball in their court with Bjorn Rebney’s Bellator brand, it’s mayhem.

As a restrictive overhaul, the Professional Fighters League (PFL) would also not allow season-long tournaments for million-dollar paydays that made the likes of Ditcheva so famous. Instead, from now on, there’d be a $500,000 prize in fighter-specific contracts.

Ex-Bellator star Patricio “Pitbull” Freire has already made the jump and debuts on the UFC 314 PPV undercard, going down April 12th from Kaseya Center in Miami. Now, fans are clamoring for the same with Ditcheva.

Fight fans call for Dakota Ditcheva at UFC

The UFC has had some big-name signings from other promotions in recent times. But if there’s one addition that’s at the top of everyone’s MMA wish list, it’s the PFL’s Dakota Ditcheva. Manchester’s Ditcheva was no newcomer at the start of her first PFL regular season. She had already made big waves in the PFL Europe women’s flyweight circuit the year before.

Fans react to Dakota Ditcheva
Fans react to Dakota Ditcheva (Source: X)

The 26-year-old is now a household name in the PFL after tearing up the competition last year. It started with a volley of hell strikes on Lisa Mauldin. At 2024’s PFL 4, Ditcheva then consolidated her number one seed with an R1 finish over Chelsea Hackett. She then pinned smooth transitional grappler Jena Bishop in under four minutes!

After the utter domination, it was somewhat surprising that PFL’s upcoming 2025 flyweight World Tournament bracket did not have a ‘Dakota Ditcheva.’ However, it means the British fighter might get bigger showcase outings. While a transition to UFC might not be nearer, fans are still asking for it.

Sitting directly behind fan-favorite ‘Paddy The Baddy’, who always his moments on the big screen, one couldn’t miss her. It seems impossible that the UFC won’t try to sign Ditcheva at some point in her career. She’s a star in the making. Hence, fans have wished as much.

UFC Executive David Shaw was asked about Ditcheva’s screen appearance during the post-fight press presser. However, he couldn’t shed any light on whether it was anything more than wishful fan musings. Meanwhile, fans aren’t waiting around for legalities and have wished for her to come over to UFC pastures.

Related: PFL needs to keep Dakota Ditcheva happy or she’s UFC-bound in 2025