Dakota Ditcheva Shrugs Off 'Diva' Talk as Carmouche Fight Waits

Dakota Ditcheva makes her long-awaited return Friday at PFL's New York event, and she's doing it against the same name that was penciled in months ago: Bellator veteran Denise Kielholtz. That February booking never happened — a second injury pushed the comeback back nearly a year — but the matchup survived intact, and so did the grumbling about why the promotion's biggest attraction isn't sharing a cage with top contender Liz Carmouche instead.

Ditcheva isn't having the 'special treatment' narrative. She told MMA Fighting she doesn't pick her opponents and never has — PFL brought her the Kielholtz fight, she said yes, and that was that. Kielholtz, who won her most recent outing in Dubai, was owed the bout anyway, so Ditcheva sees the logic. Carmouche, meanwhile, carries a 26-8 record with 11 knockouts and seven submissions across a long, well-traveled career, which is exactly why fans wanted her name on Friday's card.

Not the Diva You Think

The 'golden child' and 'diva of the division' labels clearly annoy her, though she waves them off rather than argue. Ditcheva's point is simple: she was out for roughly a year while a bunch of new faces filled the flyweight ranks, so she came back and told PFL she was ready to fight whoever they handed her. Demanding a specific opponent after that layoff, she said, would have been out of line.

As for Carmouche — who has taken shots at her during the absence — Ditcheva says there's no ducking involved. If the promotion books it next, she'll take it. She openly calls it the ideal flyweight matchup, especially with a title in play, and rejects the idea that PFL is shielding her from a fight she's supposedly destined to lose.

Here's the interesting wrinkle: Ditcheva says the belt isn't the priority. As long as she keeps winning and stays parked at No. 1, the gold is almost beside the point. She'd fight Carmouche for nothing but her ranking, because holding that top spot means more to her than any strap.

Trash talk, meanwhile, remains a dead end. Ditcheva says the noise from Carmouche sounds like every other opponent who has tried to rattle her, and none of them have managed it. She offered a shrug and a compliment — great fighter, probably a nice person — before making it clear nobody's earning airtime out of her until the fight is actually signed. First, Kielholtz. Then, maybe, the fight everyone actually wants.