Would new PFL flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva beat UFC legend Valentina Shevchenko if they fought in 2025?

Val Dewar

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Would new PFL flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva beat UFC legend Valentina Shevchenko if they fought in 2025? image

The hottest new talent in MMA is Manchester’s 26-year-old phenom Dakota Ditcheva, a Muay Thai specialist who transitioned to MMA a few short years ago. 

On Friday evening in Saudi Arabia, Ditcheva utterly outclassed Taila Santos, a woman who once almost beat Valentina Shevchenko by out-wrestling the long-time champion in the first three rounds of their title fight at UFC 275.

After Ditcheva dispatched Santos in the second round with her striking – especially beautiful body work – in a showing that anointed her as a true prodigy, fans immediately took to social media to question how she would do against the UFC flyweight champion, with some going as far as to say Dakota is already better than the current version of ‘Bullet.’

After scraping by Taila, Shevchenko went on to show holes in her game in her loss to Alexa Grasso soon after anyways, as well as in their draw in the rematch. Although the Kyrzgzstani former Muay Thai star and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt finally beat her Mexican rival in their trilogy fight, an athlete like Ditcheva can draw a lot of confidence from that series of bouts.

Although she will not be able to grapple Valentina like Alexa did, Grasso also out-struck the legendary champion at points of their fights despite being fairly limited with her boxing-centric striking arsenal.

Even with that, Grasso (like almost all WMMA fighters except Jessica Andrade) does not hit the body, which is perhaps the most devastating part of Ditcheva’s game. Dakota slams knees to the body in prolonged clinch exchanges but also uses collar-ties for transitional work when opponents fall into the pocket in front of her.

Ditcheva is also a powerful and diverse kicker at all levels; she even targets the body with brutal punches, as can be seen in her finish of Santos.

Adding in elbows to PFL title bouts for the first time made Ditcheva even more dangerous, as she battered her foe with them in every single clinch exchange along the fence.

Although the next season will see that weapon of Ditcheva’s stripped away again, moving to the UFC would allow her to fully utilize the ‘Art of 8 Limbs,’ i.e. Muay Thai.

Being a Muay Farang, it has been assumed for Dakota’s entire career that when she faces a good wrestler and/or grappler that she would falter. However, in her last two fights she has beaten BJJ black belt Jena Bishop and a well-rounded fighter/capable wrestler in Santos. 

Fans may talk about Shevchenko being able to take down Ditcheva, but Valentina hits most of her takedowns from the clinch.

However, the infamous WMMA head-and-arm throw which the champ loves so much will be hard to hit on Dakota, given that her Muay Thai background has made her a master of clinch situations. That was on full display as she stuffed every takedown from Santos yesterday.

Ditcheva was also able to stand up from underneath Jena Bishop with a perfect wall-walk.

Valentina has a similar background to Ditcheva, but was never a clinch-heavy Thai boxer. 

If the fight were to take place mostly in the realm of striking then it would be hyper-competitive. Both women are masters at controlling space, but while Shevchenko keeps the distance at a maximum to use her kicks until she is ready to blitz forward with punches or for a takedown, Ditcheva’s range is fluid.

The Brit is able to collapse distance in an instant with disguised entries in order to employ clinch striking or land her boxing, including body shots (which is one area she seriously excels over Valentina). Yet she is also capable of controlling range like Shevchenko to safely attack with kicks from the outside. 

Another real advantage ‘Dangerous’ Dakota holds is her height, she stood two inches taller than Santos and would stand three inches taller than Valentina. That will mess with the preferred range of the UFC champ, as Dakota will be able to reach her at spaces where Shevchenko cannot do the same.

At 36-years-old Valentina is not getting any younger and is coming off a hard trilogy where she came out with a win, a loss and a draw. She is just not in her prime anymore. ‘Bullet’ may be the striking savant of yesteryear and may sit atop her throne once more, but cracks have begun to appear in the foundation.

The new Muay Thai prodigy who is signed to the UFC’s rival may not be in front of her now, but fans predict that one day soon she will be. 'Bullet' will keep aging while Dakota will keep improving until she hits her prime.

If the day comes that they fight, as we all hope, I believe Dakota Ditcheva will beat Valentina Shevchenko.

Val Dewar

Val Dewar Photo

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.