Matches to Make for the PFL in 2025

When the Professional Fighters League signed a promising but unproven Dakota Ditcheva in 2022, the hope was that she could develop into the kind of homegrown star around which a promotion can build. Consider that phase of her career complete.

The undefeated American Top Team star put away Taila Santos with a series of brutal body blows and laid claim to the women’s flyweight championship in the second round of their PFL 2024 Season Championships co-main event on Friday at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Finished for the first time in her 26-fight career, Santos succumbed to punches 4:41 into Round 2.

Ditcheva set the tone across the first five minutes, as she stonewalled repeated takedown attempts from the Brazilian and started the process of piling up points and punishment with surgical strikes. Santos soon wore down from damage. Ditcheva doubled over the Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran with a clean left hook to the liver late in the second round, then followed it with two more unabated shots to the ribs to prompt the stoppage.

In the aftermath of the PFL 2024 Season Championships, here are six matches that ought to be made:

Dakota Ditcheva vs. Liz Carmouche: The rout of Santos moved Ditcheva to 14-0 with 13 finishes and put her in position to call her shots at 125 pounds. Rarely does substance exceed hype in combat sports, but the 26-year-old Sale, England, native seems to have it all—looks, skills, charisma, competitive drive and the backing of a world-class team—and could soon emerge as the next face of women’s MMA. Might a second championship be on the horizon for Ditcheva? Carmouche, 40, has rattled off nine wins in 10 appearances. She captured the Bellator MMA women’s flyweight crown two-plus years ago and made three successful title defenses prior to joining the PFL roster for the 2025 season. Carmouche dropped a unanimous decision to Santos in the women’s flyweight semifinals on Aug. 2, suffering her first setback in more than 1,800 days.

Denis Goltsov vs. Francis Ngannou: Goltsov finally broke through. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Russian made good on his fourth pass at PFL gold, as he put Oleg Popov to sleep with a first-round triangle choke and walked away with the heavyweight championship. Goltsov stopped all four of his opponents—Popov, Tim Johnson, Thiago Santos and Linton Vassell—on his way to a seven-figure payday that eluded him in 2019, 2021 and 2023. It lines him up for a shot at the PFL’s cash cow. Ngannou returned to the MMA scene in October and did so to spectacular results, as he obliterated Renan Ferreira with ground-and-pound in the first round of their pay-per-view showdown for the inaugural PFL Super Fights heavyweight championship. “The Predator” has won seven fights in a row, six of them via knockout or technical knockout.

Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov vs. Corey Anderson: Thoughts of an Impa Kasanganay repeat were put on ice in a hurry, as Yagshimuradov needed less than a minute to dispose of the defending light heavyweight champion and start a 205-pound reign of his own. The surging Turkmenistan native drew the curtain with punches 58 seconds into Round 1. Yagshimuradov, 35, will carry a seven-fight winning streak into 2025, where he can prove his run to the top was no fluke. Anderson won the vacant Bellator MMA light heavyweight championship with a five-round unanimous decision over Karl Moore in the Bellator Champions Series 1 headliner on March 22. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 19 winner has past history with Yagshimuradov, as he stopped him on a third-round technical knockout in the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinals in April 2021.

Shamil Musaev vs. Ramazan Kuramagomedov: Musaev somehow still flies under the radar. The unbeaten Russian left his stamp on the PFL’s latest campaign when he buried Magomed Umalatov with punches in the third round of their million-dollar welterweight final. Musaev brought it to a close 1:44 into Round 3, improving to 18-0-1—a 2022 draw with Michal Pietrzak remains the lone blemish on his resume—in the process. The 30-year-old Universal Fighters product has now secured 12 of his 18 career victories by knockout or technical knockout. American Top Team’s Kuramagomedov introduced himself to a wider audience on June 22, when he dethroned Jason Jackson for the undisputed Bellator MMA welterweight championship with a five-round unanimous decision at Bellator Champions Series 3.

Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Usman Nurmagomedov-Paul Hughes winner: Not necessarily known for highlight-reel finishes, Rabadanov took out Brent Primus with violent precision in the third round of their lightweight final and announced himself as a clear-and-present danger for all who patrol the waters of the 155-pound division. A multi-punch burst from the Russian left Primus face down and unconscious 2:31 into Round 3. Rabadanov has pieced together 10 consecutive wins since he surrendered the Eagle Fighting Championship lightweight title to Mehdi Dakaev in a five-round unanimous decision on Dec. 4, 2020. Armed with an 18-0 record, Nurmagomedov will defend his Bellator MMA lightweight crown against Hughes at a PFL Champions Series event in January.

Timur Khizriev vs. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire: Khizriev showed off the dimension to his game when he outstruck Brendan Loughnane to a unanimous decision for the 2024 PFL featherweight championship. Scores were 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46. The undefeated Khizriev, now 18-0, routinely beat the Englishman to the punch, leaving him battered and bloodied by the time it was over. Only Loughnane’s toughness and resolve allowed him to reach the final bell, though it became clear long before that he was not in the Russian’s league. Freire last suited up on March 22, when he retained his Bellator MMA featherweight crown with a third-round technical knockout—knees and follow-up punches did the trick—of Jeremy Kennedy at Bellator Champions Series 1.