WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 2024 Professional Fighters League season saw a new weight class open up, and as a direct result, a star was born in the women’s flyweight division.
When the company announced the women’s flyweight division as part of its regular season in 2024, much attention was paid to newcomer Dakota Ditcheva, the 2023 PFL Europe champion. Now part of the global season, fans wanted to see how Ditcheva would transition to tougher challenges on the global roster, with more media and attention surrounding her. So far, it’s been nothing but success for both sides. That success has given Donn Davis and the PFL team an opportunity to consider adding more weight classes in the near future.
There has been no denying the success of Ditcheva in her 2024 regular season and playoff run. She would make quick work in all three of her fights this year, picking up first-round finishes against Lisa Mauldin and Chelsea Hackett in the regular season, then doing so again against Jena Bishop in the semifinals earlier this month.
With Ditcheva as the best example to what happens with PFL in-house success and new weight classes, Davis and the PFL have something to consider in terms of opening up more divisions in 2025. Speaking to the media in Washington, D.C., as the PFL wrapped up its semifinals, Davis was asked about what it would take to open up more divisions.
Given the PFL’s acquisition of the Bellator MMA roster in 2024, there were more eyes on the product with new fighters in the regular season, and that means an emphasis on having the very best talent on the roster.
“It’s a great question. More divisions in our global season is something we look at,” Davis said. “We don’t want to dilute the product. This year in 2024 everybody sees how much tougher the season is than last year once we acquired all the Bellator fighters. The statistic that is super interesting that doesn’t get reported enough: Of the Top 300 fighters, 190 are UFC, 85 are in PFL. So 275 of the top 300 fighters in the world are in these two promotions.”
His answer revealed that there is a drawn-out process to open up a division, and it would mean many new fighters who have proven to be the best of their weight class.
“So to win four times in eight months, that’s the toughest in MMA and this year that product is that good,” Davis said. “We don’t want to add new weight classes unless the 10 fighters in that weight class can really be that good. We’re looking to add more [weight classes] all the time, but we don’t want to just add a weight class that’s not that strong, we want to do it the right way.”
