WASHINGTON, DC – The 2024 Professional Fighters League season introduced a new weight class, 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 the 2024 regular season, a lot of attention was focused on newcomer Dakota Dycheva, the 2023 PFL European champion. Now part of the global season, with all the media and attention, fans were eager to see how Dycheva would transition to the tougher challenge of the global roster. So far, it’s been nothing but success for both sides. That success has given Don Davis and the PFL team the opportunity to consider adding more weight classes in the near future.
There’s no denying Ditcheba’s success in the regular season and playoffs in 2024. She’s been quick to win all three of her matches this year, with first-round wins over Lisa Mauldin and Chelsea Hackett in the regular season and another win against Jenna Bishop in the semifinals earlier this month.
Dycheva is the best example of PFL’s in-house success and what can happen with new weight classes, giving Davis and the PFL something to consider when it comes to opening more divisions in 2025. Speaking to media in Washington, D.C. as the PFL wrapped up its semi-finals, Davis was asked what it would take to open more divisions.
There will be a lot of attention on new fighters being added to the regular season given that the PFL has acquired Bellator MMA’s roster for 2024, which means there will be an emphasis on stocking the roster with the best talent.
“Great question. Adding more divisions to the global season is something we’re looking at,” Davis said. “We don’t want to dilute the product. This year, 2024, we’ve got all of Bellator’s fighters, so we all know how much tougher the season is going to be than last year. There’s a very interesting statistic that doesn’t get reported much: Of the top 300 fighters, 190 are in UFC and 85 are in PFL. That means 275 of the top 300 fighters in the world are in those two promotions.”
His answer made it clear that creating a new weight class would be a long process and would require many new fighters who prove to be the strongest in that weight class.
“To win four times in eight months is the hardest thing in MMA, but that’s how good I’ve been this year,” Davis said. “I don’t want to add a new weight class unless the 10 fighters in that weight class are really good, and we’re looking at adding more.
[weight classes] We do it all the time, but we want to do it the right way, not just add a less-than-strong division.”
