Chicago — PFL star Dakota Ditcheva and ex-Bellator champ/UFC title challenger Liz Carmouche have long been circling one another.
However, following Friday’s PFL Chicago, where Jena Bishop defeated Carmouche via decision to claim the promotion’s inaugural women’s flyweight championship, Ditcheva feels it’s no longer the fight to make.
“I don’t need the Liz fight. I know a lot of fans want to see it, but it’s not a fight that I’m like, my career is dependent on. I want to go to a level that Liz hasn’t been able to go to,” Ditcheva (16-0) said backstage at the WinTrust Arena in Chicago, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press.
“Now she [Carmouche] likes to talk down and say like I’m running away from her and all this kind of stuff. I feel like there’s a lot more to it than just me and Liz fighting. You’ve got to be able to sell it, and I think they can sell Jena better than they can sell Liz.”
No doubt that’s true now, thanks to Bishop’s big win. Yet even before that, the PFL avoided booking the pair, and Carmouche ran with the narrative that Ditcheva was scared of her.
“I feel like she needs to sit back a little bit, think about what she’s saying. I am not scared to fight Liz. That is one thing that I’m not scared of. I’m not scared to fight anybody,” Ditcheva exclaimed. “Maybe it didn’t get away as well, so that’s the other side of it. Maybe we will fight. But at the same time, I don’t need that fight. I’m sick of hearing everybody go like ‘oh it’s the fight to make.’ She just lost to Jena. It’s not the fight to make anymore.”
Next up for the unbeaten English star will be a title fight against Jena Bishop. The pair faced off in the cage on Friday to set the rematch up. As to timing, Ditcheva has been given the all clear to train in boxing again, after breaking both hands in her last fight. That should put her on track to return sometime early in 2027. “February, March next year I hope,” she suggested.
Of course, with Bishop being the newly crowned and inaugural PFL women’s flyweight champion, “I guess the balls in her court, but I’m still the golden girl. So if they want me back in the cage, then she’s going to have to come up with some strategy.”
Asked about how a second fight between herself and Jena Bishop would go, Ditcheva replied by saying “Probably the same as last time. She’s definitely improved, I’m not taking anything away from her tonight. She took some heavy shots, so she can definitely obviously take a good bit of damage. But yeah, I feel like I’m different from Liz for sure.”
Later, she admitted that “I wasn’t like crazy impressed with the level, but not taking anything away from her performance tonight. I want to let her have her moment, but I wasn’t crazy impressed with ‘wow this is going to be crazy hard.’ But I do think she’s improved since the last time I fought her.”
Watch the full PFL Chicago press conference with Dakota Ditcheva above.