Dakota Ditcheva vs. Yana Santos: PFL Championship Showdown

SportsGrid

Watch Dakota Ditcheva vs. Yana Santos: PFL Championship Showdown - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00She just beat Jenna Bishop to get to this championship fight

00:06against Tyler Santos.

00:07Now, obviously, she has a lot of experience.

00:09She's been in the UFC.

00:11She's been all over, you know, a very experienced fighter.

00:13What do you look for that you think you hold the advantage in

00:16now when you come against her to try to take this title

00:18and become the PFL Flyweight champ?

00:23Yeah, I mean, it's a big fight.

00:25It's an amazing fight for me.

00:27Tyler's, you know, obviously very well-respected.

00:29She's come from the UFC into PFL, and, you know,

00:32she's had a good few wins over that side,

00:35and she's looking to obviously come over here

00:37and just dominate the whole thing,

00:38but then now she's got to face me in the final.

00:40So I totally respect her.

00:42You know, she's got a lot of experience.

00:43I know how tough she is.

00:45She's obviously been five rounds before as well,

00:47so that's another thing she's going to have

00:49a lot of experience with.

00:50But I don't feel like she's ever fought anyone like me.

00:53A lot of these girls underestimate me.

00:55Everyone in the tournament previously that I've fought

00:57has underestimated me.

01:00They've all been talking about me,

01:01but I'm just going to go out there

01:03and do what I've done the whole year

01:05and just shut the tournament down and bring home my belt.

01:11Obviously, and he said she's been five rounds.

01:13You have not.

01:14A lot of first round, second round finishes,

01:16so you haven't had to go the distance.

01:18How ready are you for that if you have to go in there

01:21and try to go all five rounds?

01:23And, you know, what's it been like for you

01:24to go through this tournament format?

01:25Do you like it where you have to kind of win and keep going

01:28like you would see more in different sports than MMA?

01:31Typically, it's not usually what you see.

01:32Usually, it's like you have the one fight,

01:33and then the next one, it is what it is.

01:35When you get there, what do you think

01:36about the tournament format?

01:38How has that been for you to have going

01:41in a lot of part of your career now

01:42between the PFL Europe and the PFL here in the US?

01:46Yeah, I mean, I've really enjoyed it.

01:48I've enjoyed building a little bit of a fan base over here.

01:51I felt like coming over to the States was what I needed.

01:55You know, to kind of build up that fan base.

01:57And the tournament format really suits me.

01:59Obviously, I'm still young.

02:00I'm only 26.

02:02I don't have a hard weight cut either.

02:04I think a lot of the girls, you know,

02:06kind of struggle with making weight every two months or so.

02:10Whereas for me, you know, I still feel strong all the time.

02:12I'm not in a really hard weight cut or anything.

02:15And I think that's one of the main things

02:17that people underestimate.

02:19And as well, I just live and breathe this sport.

02:20So I'm in the gym all the time, like finishing a fight

02:24and then going straight back to the gym

02:25hasn't been difficult for me.

02:26Because it's just something that I love to do.

02:28And I'm constantly training all the time.

02:30So I feel like I've dealt with it really well.

02:33And yeah, the only thing I would say

02:35is that I haven't been able to, like, go home,

02:36spend a lot of time with family, you know, do other things.

02:39It's kind of just been in the gym all the time.

02:41So there's pros and cons,

02:42but I've really enjoyed the season for sure.

Category

Transcript

Recommended