Being the daughter of a former kickboxing world champion means fighting has always been in Dakota Ditcheva’s blood.
Now the PFL Women’s Flyweight European Champion, Ditcheva currently stands on her own two feet as one of the promotion’s hottest prospects. She has won all 11 of her MMA contests to date, 10 of them by stoppage, and looks a force to be reckoned with in this season’s global tournament.
There is a sense of destiny that has accompanied the British girl from Sale, Greater Manchester, as she treads her own path while ultimately following in the footsteps of legendary mother Lisa Howarth. Though if Lisa had it her way, the stars wouldn’t have aligned that way for her daughter.
‘She didn’t really want me to be a fighter to be honest, she wanted me to do other things,’ Ditcheva says about her mom in an exclusive interview with Dailymail.com.
‘She’s been through it all herself so she knows how tough it is and what it takes. It wasn’t something that she wanted her daughter to do.’
Dakota Ditcheva has always had fighting in her blood as the daughter of a kickboxing legend
Now the daughter of former world champion Lisa Howarth (second from right) is carving out her own fighting career in the PFL
Lisa – who claimed world championships in Muay Thai and karate as well as kickboxing in her own storied career – wanted to shield Dakota from the brutality she encountered on her own route to the top. Yet those words of warning did little to deter her.
After first putting on a pair of gloves at the age of four, two years later Ditcheva witnessed exactly the kind of danger her mom had warned her about.
‘My older brother Cody was fighting,’ she recalls when asked about her earliest memories of combat sports. ‘He slipped in the corner during the round and the kid that he was fighting kneed him in the mouth, and it cut all of his lips and gums.
‘That’s my earliest memory of fighting, but it didn’t stop me.’
Even a gory moment as close to home as this was not enough to put Dakota off. At the age of 13 she ventured into Muay Thai just like Lisa did all those years ago, and it quickly became apparent that she had her mom’s genes.
First came four straight world championship victories as an amateur, before she won 15 of her 17 professional bouts. ‘Every show I went to people were like, “Watch this one, this is Lisa Howard’s daughter.” So people spotted my talent from a very young age,’ she recalls.
Injuries later forced the 25-year-old – who is also half Bulgarian due to her Samokov-born father Ivor – to put her blossoming Muay Thai career on hold. It was at this point when she went back to the drawing board and assessed her options. The result? A career-defining transition into the world of mixed martial arts, a discipline she insists is a lot more complex.
‘You’ve got to have the jiu-jitsu, you’ve got to have the striking, the wrestling. You’ve got to have a mix of everything,’ Ditcheva explains.
Ditcheva recently visited the Daily Mail in NYC to speak about her journey in combat sports
The PFL Women’s Flyweight European Champion discussed her mom’s influence on her career
Mom Lisa (left) – who won world championships in three martial-arts disciplines – tried to warn her daughter against following her and older brother Cody (right) into fighting
Even a gruesome injury suffered by Cody did not deter her from putting on the gloves
‘Transitioning over from Thai boxing [Muay Thai], I had to change my style a little bit. But I feel like coming from a striking background was a bit of a positive for me.
‘I was able to keep my style and transition well into the MMA world. I don’t know if it would have been the same if I came from a jiu-jitsu background, I would have had to learn the striking and it might have taken me a little bit longer. But I feel like I did quite well with that and I’ve picked it up quite well.’
While the prospect of plying a new trade was a daunting one, Ditcheva has since taken to MMA like a fish to water.
Two years after making the switch the former Muay Thai hopeful stepped into the cage for her very first pro outing in April 2021. It lasted a mere two minutes and four seconds before her hand was raised.
Another four victories followed, three more by stoppage, before the PFL came calling. The American MMA promotion, which consists of a league-style format and playoff tournament, has been gaining traction in recent years and Ditcheva was offered the chance to hop on board in 2022.
‘[The concept] was kind of new to me and it took me a while to understand,’ she admits.
In the PFL, fighters acquire points for victories and can also collect bonus points for stoppages, all of which go towards a league table. This system allowed Ditcheva to romp to glory in the inaugural Europe women’s flyweight competition last year, banking herself a huge $100,000 prize as well as the merit that comes with proving yourself the best in your field.
After spending her early years in Muay Thai and becoming a world amateur champion Ditcheva crossed over into MMA – and recently became PFL European champion
She is one of the hottest prospects in the PFL, which consists of a league-style format
However, aside from treating herself to a new pair of shoes, a reward which has become somewhat of a tradition after every fight and every win so far, the Manchester native has struggled to truly appreciate her successes in the cage.
‘It was definitely a big milestone. But I feel like I don’t really get easily pleased,’ she says about her PFL Europe triumph.
‘I should be a little prouder of where I’m going and be prouder of the smaller things, but I’ve always got the next goal in mind – and that sometimes takes the good things away from what I’m achieving now.
‘But it was definitely the milestone for like… now I feel like I’ve conquered Europe and I’m onto the global [stage] now.’
Tonight, Ditcheva will contest her second PFL regular-season bout when she collides with Australia’s Chelsea Hackett in Uncasville, Connecticut.
No longer is she battling it out with the European elite. In this league table lies opposition from Brazil, USA and Japan as well as Down Under, a sign of how far the daughter of Lisa Howarth has already come in her own fighting journey.
But despite this incredible early rise, Ditcheva admits: ‘I still doubt myself even now. I’m still confident and I know I’m meant to be here, I know I’m a very good talent.
‘But at the same time, so are so many other people.’
Dedicating herself to the blood, sweat and tears of combat sports has also put an enormous strain on her social life. Holidays have been missed, parties skipped. Certain friendships have even deteriorated along the way.
‘I’ve definitely had to miss out on a lot. My life looks a lot different to all of my friends, which can sometimes be the tough thing. It’s not the normal life,’ she admits.
Ditcheva admits her dedication to fighting has affected her social life and cost her some friendships along the way
But she tells Dailymail.com that she would not have her life any other way in spite of that
The girl from Sale, Greater Manchester, is proud of what she has accomplished so far
‘I’ve lost a lot of friends along the way, just due to me not being able to keep up with it or the demand of travelling and things like that.
‘A lot of my friends have kids now, boyfriends, they’re all settled with a house. And I still don’t own a property. I’m flying here there and everywhere, I don’t have a boyfriend yet, I’m missing out on parties and going away on holiday sometimes…. Sometimes I have to not attend things like that.’
Though it has all been worth it. ‘I wouldn’t change anything,’ Ditcheva stresses. ‘Look at what I’ve achieved and what I’ve got now.
‘Along the years I’ve kind of learnt that this is a normal life for me, it doesn’t have to be the same for everyone else. I’ve kind of been comfortable in the fact that it’s ok for my life to look like this and to have not kids yet and to not have a house yet. It’s something that’s taken a while for me to get used to and accept.
‘But I definitely wouldn’t change it at all.’
One thing Ditcheva would change, however, is the stereotype surrounding women’s combat sports as it continue to enjoy a surge in popularity.
A quick glance at her Instagram account, which boasts just as many pictures of glammed up nights out as it does MMA content, paints the PFL sensation in a completely different light away from the sport. The average person on the street would never guess she trades fists and kicks for a living, something which is often pointed out to her. So why are female fighters’ appearances discussed so frequently?
‘It definitely needs to change,’ Ditcheva says about this stigma. ‘That’s one of the first things people say “you don’t look like a fighter”. And I’m like, why?
She also believes the stereotype around what female fighters look like needs to change
‘I get where they’re coming from… I just don’t look rough is basically what you’re saying! Which is not what I want to look like outside of fighting or at any time.
‘I think people just need to accept that we can have two split personalities, which is what I have. The person that I am in training and in the cage is very very different to what I look like outside – and that’s ok, I can be both.
‘People seem to think if you’re a fighter you’ve got to be this tough girl all the time. No, I’m tough in the gym and I’m tough when I fight, but outside I like to be the normal female like everybody else that likes to dress up and wear pink.
‘And I think the more I keep doing that and showing those two sides, the quicker that stereotype is going to disappear.’
Over the next five months Ditcheva will be dealt challenges from all across the globe in her quest to reign supreme as PFL Women’s Flyweight World Champion, a feat which would pay out 10 times the prize money of the European equivalent she already captured.
If she blitzes her way to the title, Dakota will be a millionaire on American shores.
Yet, the frequent question posed to her involves UFC and whether she sees a future in MMA’s blue-riband organization. For now, her eyes are not drifting from the PFL.
‘I want to win this world title this year, and then after that I feel like PFL are bringing up so many different opportunities. They don’t really restrict us too much in that if I want to do boxing I can do boxing,’ she explains.
‘They’ve just merged with Bellator too so I can fight girls from Bellator now. They’ve had a card in Saudi Arabia so I can go and fight over there and build some fans there.
Ditcheva is also a Manchester City fan and often replicates player celebrations after victories
But after pulling off Erling Haaland’s famous move (right), she doesn’t know what to do next
‘I feel like they’re coming up with so many opportunities now that I’m kind of just focused on winning this tournament and seeing what PFL can offer.’
Ditcheva’s immediate sights are on outclassing Hackett at PFL 4 and keeping herself top of the table, just like her beloved Manchester City.
As a lifelong fan of the Premier League champions, she has followed up victories in the PFL by performing celebrations belonging to certain City players, some of which have gone viral on social media.
‘The first one I did I think was in Paris, I did the [Erling] Haaland where he sits down on the floor,’ she laughs. ‘And then from there it completely blew up.
‘City got on to it and they absolutely loved it. But then I did the [Jeremy] Doku Griddy… or I tried anyway! And then I’ve done [Phil] Foden’s as well.’
For Thursday night in Uncasville, though, she’s a little stuck for ideas. ‘Now I don’t know what I’m gonna do next…’