Dan Hardy believes a potential fight between PFL superstar Dakota Ditcheva and UFC flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko would have a decisive victor.<\/p>\n
2024 PFL flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva is arguably the face of the league after a torrid start to her MMA career. Following Kayla Harrison\u2019s PFL departure last year, Ditcheva has become one of the league\u2019s biggest stars<\/a> and is one of the most talked-about athletes in women\u2019s MMA.<\/p>\n While Ditcheva\u2019s rise has been a quick ascent, Valentina Shevchenko has been at the top of the women\u2019s pound-for-pound rankings for years. Outside of a few close calls, Shevchenko has dominated most of her flyweight rivals.<\/p>\n Once Ditcheva\u2019s current PFL deal expires, the UK standout could be on her way to the UFC Octagon. If that happens, and Shevchenko is still competing, a top PFL analyst believes Ditcheva would recreate what she did in the PFL inside the UFC Octagon.<\/p>\n Dan Hardy: Dakota Ditcheva takes down Valentina Shevchenko in potential fight<\/p>\n During a recent interview with MMA Fighting<\/a>, PFL analyst Dan Hardy sided with Ditcheva in a potential superfight against Shevchenko. \u201cVery, very rarely\u2014and that\u2019s because she completely dominates people with just this steady pace. The kind of person that would break that style of fighting is someone that attacks ferociously. Dakota\u2019s got the height and reach, the power, she\u2019s got the viciousness, and the reality is American Top Team is probably one of the toughest mats, especially for a female fighter. I\u2019ve got to expect her to at least hold her own on the ground with Valentina, if not be able to defend the takedowns.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Dakota beats anybody right now in her weight class. I think pound-for-pound, if she\u2019s not top three, then I\u2019m crazy,\u201d Hardy continued. \u201cI think she has a damn good chance against anybody and even going up to bantamweight and fighting there and having a lot of success there as well.\u201d (h\/t MMA News<\/a>)<\/p>\n
\u201cI would put my money on her [Ditcheva] against Valentina right now. That\u2019s with all due respect to Valentina, who I\u2019ve held in high regard for a long time. The thing that Valentina always made challenging about my job when I was doing Inside the Octagon for the UFC was there\u2019s no highlight reel moments in her fights really,\u201d Hardy said of Shevchenko.<\/p>\n