Dakota Ditcheva silences critics by face-planting Jena Bishop in playoff-opening first-round KO

Dakota Ditcheva entered the first round of the PFL playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the women’s flyweight division, but also with a lot of questions about her all-around game.

Ditcheva made an emphatic statement on Friday in Nashville, Tenn., when she stopped black belt Jena Bishop with a brutal knee at just 3:54 of the first round. She’ll meet Taila Santos, who won a decision by scores of 29-28 on all cards earlier in the night over Liz Carmouche.

“I took a lot of crap-talking on the internet,” said Ditcheva, who is now 13-0 with her 12th finish.

She was the one who was doing the talking when it was all over, however. Bishop took Ditcheva down early in what had to be a dream come true for her. Ditcheva is a Muay Thai fighter and didn’t seem to be in Bishop’s league in the grappling realm.

But she remained calm and managed to fairly quickly work her way to the feet. Once she got back up, it didn’t last long.

The beginning of the end came with a knee to the body while they were fighting near the cage. It rocked Bishop and she twirled, off-balance, toward the center of the cage.

Ditcheva then landed a knee to the face that sent Bishop down face first. Rather than follow Bishop to the floor to try to end the fight with ground-and-pound, Ditcheva motioned for her to stand up.

Bishop got up, but was in no condition to fight. Ditcheva threw a right hand as Bishop was falling again, still woozy from the knee, and referee Blake Grice halted it at 3:54 of the first round.

Ditcheva was annoyed that so many, including Bishop, had been criticizing her opposition. Bishop said she thought the PFL had given her the easiest opposition of all the women in the playoffs and many referred to her opposition as tomato cans. Ditcheva heard their words and didn't care for them a bit.

She walked around the PFL's Smart Cage after her finish, first putting her fingers over her lips suggesting her opponents should be silent. Later, she made a talking gesture with her hands.

“She’s going to join the list of those cans,” Ditcheva said of Bishop.

The finish sets her up for the final in November against Santos, who outworked Carmouche to earn a unanimous decision and earn her spot in the final. For all intents and purposes, Carmouche needed a finish to make it to the final, and while she controlled the second round, she never was close.

Carmouche missed weight on Thursday, so under the PFL rules, she was docked a point. A 29-28 Carmouche win would have become a draw, so she needed the finish she didn’t come close to getting.

But Santos, who nearly lifted the UFC flyweight title from then-champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 275 in Singapore on June 12, 2022, now will have to solve the aggressive striking style of Ditcheva.

After winning the PFL Europe title last year, Ditcheva moved onto the PFL’s regular season, where she scored first-round KOs over Lisa Mauldin and Chelsea Hackett. The finish of Bishop was her fourth consecutive first-round knockout, and she has finished 10 bouts in the first round.

Santos, who won a split decision over Bishop in the regular season, will have her hands full.

So, too, will top-seeded heavyweight Denis Goltsov, the runner-up in the 2023 tournament. He finished Tim Johnson with ground-and-pound at 2:26 of the first after hurting Johnson with a knee to the body. But he’ll meet Oleg Popov in the final after Popov wore down Linton Vassell.

Popov won a unanimous decision by scores of 30-27 on all cards and took his 17th victory in a row.