Dakota Ditcheva vs. Liz Carmouche should be next
Dakota Ditcheva's win over recent win over Denise Kielholtz has only one logical follow-up, and that's a women's flyweight title fight with Liz Carmouche.
Dakota Ditcheva's undefeated record remains unblemished after she extended it to 16-0 with a dominant unanimous decision win over Denise Kielholtz at PFL New York: Nurmagomedov vs. Colgan. The 28-year-old has fully established herself as the greatest women's flyweight outside of the UFC, but before she can even consider jumping ship to face the great Valentina Shevchenko, she should first face Liz Carmouche.
Dakota Ditcheva vs. Liz Carmouche is the only PFL fight left for her
The PFL women's flyweight division isn't terribly deep. The truth, though, is that the UFC's alternative isn't that much deeper either. However, there are still several fresh matchups there for Dakota Ditcheva if she ever chooses to make the move, whereas in the PFL, her options are limited. She's currently the #1 ranked women's flyweight on the PFL roster, and no one outside of the top five should even be considered for a potential matchup. She has already beaten ex-UFC women's flyweight title challenger Taila Santos, who is ranked #3, TKO'ing her in round two at PFL 10 in 2024. Similarly, she TKO'd the #4 ranked Jena Bishop in round one at PFL 7: 2024 Playoffs.
🚨 Dakota Ditcheva defeats Denise Kielholtz via unanimous decision and moves to 16-0!
👏 Ditcheva competed in her first fight in over a year after breaking her hand in her last fight. pic.twitter.com/0VSvfN6Bmo
Paulina Wiśniewska, who is ranked #5, only just rebounded from her split-decision loss to Sabrinna de Sousa at PFL Lyon: Nemkov vs. Ferreira. Unfortunately, she did so by TKO'ing Kana Watanabe, who is on a losing streak, in round two. Then, at #6, there's Denise Kielholtz, who Ditcheva just outclassed last Friday. Below her, at #7 is Viviane Araújo, who is 1-2 in her last three fights and coming off a first-round submission loss to Liz Carmouche, who is ranked #2, at PFL San Diego: McKee vs. Isbulaev. At #8, there's the aforementioned de Sousa, who is undefeated, but ranked too low and already set to face Santos at PFL Tampa: Cyborg vs. Vieira.
The only choice left is Carmouche, who is ranked right below Ditcheva. Not only is Carmouche on a four-fight win streak, she is also the 2025 PFL women's flyweight tournament champion, and former Bellator women's flyweight champion. More importantly, she is a women's MMA pioneer, who has fought at the highest level and faced legends like Ronda Rousey and Valentina Shevchenko, the latter of whom Ditcheva is often compared to. A win over Carmouche would do wonders for her career, and it's a relatively safe fight against a now 42-year-old Carmouche. It's the kind of fight that would demand a flawless performance from her to impress, but one that could be the true catapult to a UFC run, where true MMA immortality awaits her.
