Dakota Ditcheva has made history by becoming the first British woman to win a world mixed martial arts title.
The 26-year-old Muay Thai fighter moved to 14-0 in her professional career with an emphatic stoppage of former UFC title contender Tayla Santos in Riyadh to capture the Professional Fighters League (PFL) flyweight title.
Ditcheva finished the contest with her 13th second-round stoppage victory against the world-class star in Santos as the Brazilian suffered just her fourth professional loss in 26 bouts and her first outside of the UFC.
Ditcheva is now the PFL Flyweight World Champion (Photos: PFL)
Santos tried to slow down the sales-born star with her grappling skills, but Ditcheva’s jab was too strong and she used knees and kicks early before raining elbows and body shots; Britt was picking his shots and had his opponent down by the time the fight was stopped.
Ditcheva later admitted that she felt some satisfaction in defeating Santos, who made disparaging comments earlier in the fight.
“She’s a tough girl, but I knew what I was capable of,” Dicheva said. “She was like, ‘She’s just a Barbie, she should be a model.’
“Well, the model just beat your a** in the second round, so shut up.”
Ditcheva maintained her unbeaten record with the win (Photos: PFL)
Ditcheva secured $1m (£785,361) in prize money with the win and believes he has beaten the best competition available to him in the PFL.
“I told you, I tried to tell you, I just keep proving them wrong,” Dicheva added.
“The world is mine. I just beat the best girl out there. Me and PFL are going to come out with something amazing.”
It wasn’t all good news for Britain’s Brendan Loughnane, who followed up Ditcheva’s victory by fighting in the main event.
Loughnan lost a unanimous decision to Russia’s Timur Khizriev in his second attempt to win the PFL featherweight world title.
