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(Exclusive) Taila Santos Talks Dakota Ditcheva Title Fight & First PFL Season

Santos will face Ditcheva at the 2024 PFL World Championship on November 29.

Drew Beaupre

(Cooper Neill/PFL MMA)

On the cusp of winning the women’s flyweight tournament in her first PFL season, Taila Santos spoke with MMA KO’s Drew Beaupré about the 2024 PFL World Championship, her opponent Dakota Ditcheva, and her experience with the PFL since leaving the UFC.

Facing The Undefeated Ditcheva For PFL Gold

Santos is set to face last year’s PFL Europe Women’s Flyweight Champion Ditcheva on November 29, and the PFL’s unique tournament structure has provided Santos with plenty of opportunities to study her unbeaten opponent.

“Training has been excellent, one big advantage that we have with the tournament format is that we got to see our opponent compete one or two times, so we have a lot of tape to study and we were studying throughout the tournament.”

“There’s a lot of hype on her,” Santos said of Ditcheva. “As far as like seeing what she does, there’s nothing really outside of the norm. She’s a good striker, but nothing that is really outside of the curve. Most girls have been letting her impose her will, and when they do that they’re playing into their opponent’s hands. So that’s I think a big thing, nobody has been able to stop her from doing what she wants. So of course she’s gonna look good.”

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Ditcheva has managed to stop every one of her PFL opponents with strikes thus far, but even though Santos expects to have a grappling advantage during their matchup she doesn’t want to rely on that too heavily heading into the fight.

“In a fight, you shouldn’t really take many risks. So we’ll see what happens, but I think I have to feel her out, see our options, how her setup entry is – because you never know until you’re actually there face-to-face with your opponent. But yeah, like I said – The easiest path to win, to the victory, is from the ground. But a fight is a fight, so we’ve gotta feel it out, see what happens to really see what’s the right path to go.”

Santos Praises PFL Experience & Tournament Format: "They Are Proper Promoters"

The women’s flyweight tournament finals will feature as the co-main event for the 2024 PFL World Championship, and Santos is thrilled to be competing in such a high-profile booking on a card that boasts 10 title fights between the PFL and PFL MENA tournaments.

"[I'm] very happy with how I’ve been treated in the PFL. I’ve been here for a very short period so far, but I have absolutely nothing to complain about. They’re doing a great job, especially taking care of the fighters. I believe that I’ve done [enough] within the organization to earn the co-main event status. But you know, that’s the thing. They are proper promoters. They are promoting me, they are promoting the other fighters, and at the end of the day that’s what we want from our promoters. If we fight for you, you have to help us get out there, expose us to the public, and I think the PFL is doing a good job.”

The matchup with Ditcheva will mark the fourth time that Santos has competed this year, and the 31-year-old values her recent rate of activity after she only stepped into the cage four times from 2021-2023 when she was with the UFC.

“I really love the tournament format. Not just fighting more constantly, but actually knowing when you’re gonna fight makes a huge difference. You fight this one, I know that I have a fight on such and such date. So you can prepare properly, I like to keep myself always prepared, diet and shape. But it’s harder when you don’t have a [fight] in sight, which is what used to happen. ‘Okay, I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready,’ but there’s no [fight scheduled]. In the PFL, I know that right now if I win I’ll get another fight in such time, and then another one in such time…Makes more sense to be always ready, which wasn’t really the case in my former [organization].”

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Looking Ahead To 2025

Claiming this year’s women’s flyweight title could set Santos up for some big opportunities next year, whether that be challenging a former opponent under the Bellator banner or competing for one of the PFL’s recently-introduced Super Fights belts.

“If everything goes according to plan, I get the belt, I think it’s a little hard to know what the PFL is gonna do. Every year has been a little different, so you don’t know if there’s gonna be a tournament or not. But say I win, maybe later we try to do a rematch with Liz Carmouche for the Bellator belt. In the PFL, there are some nice super fights that we can do in case there’s no tournament. So I’m up for it if I can fight at least twice a year next year with them as a champion, that would be great.”

"To my fans and to all the people that support me, just keep your eyes peeled. On the 29th we're gonna make Saudi Arabia shake a lot."

Santos will try and extend her perfect PFL record against Ditcheva in the co-main event of the 2024 PFL World Championship, which takes place on November 29 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Drew Beaupre
DREW BEAUPRE

Drew is an MMA writer that regularly watches regional events in addition to major promotions such as the UFC, PFL, Bellator, and ONE Championship. He joined MMA Knockout when it was founded in 2023.

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