British Teenager Unbeaten in Muay Thai Getting into MMA
Excerpts taken from the U.K. Daily Mirror – Written by Steve Myall
Dakota Ditcheva is a Muay Thai fighter and currently a European, British, Celtic and English champion, as well as a three-time World Champion. She is also only 17 years old.
The young lady from Sale, Cheshire, England has found success has one drawback – she now struggles to find any girls who are willing to fight her.
To get around her unusual problem, the fighter who has been inspired by the rise of Ronda Rousey and the UFC, is considering moving into Mixed Martial Arts.
Despite still being in full time education, Dakota spends every spare second in the gym, training six days a week.
For Dakota, fighting is her biggest passion, said she: “I just love the adrenaline and the excitement that comes with the sport.
“But also, the discipline and dedication that it involves. I’m so driven to succeed – competing is all I really want to do.
“When I’m preparing for a fight, I don’t think of anything else except winning. Losing doesn’t come into it at any point, it’s just not an option.
“When I walk out for a fight, I’m not thinking about anything else. I’m focused on the fight and on what I’m there to do.”
Last month, Dakota competed in The Road to the Main Event, a UK event which showcases upcoming Muay Thai talent.
Three of the opponents that Dakota was due to face at the event made the decision to pull out of the fight, so she was left to face off against a fourth scheduled opponent.
She said: “I’ve never lost a fight and I think that’s why finding girls who are willing to fight me has proved difficult.
“I fight all over, in so many different competitions and I’ve always been willing to travel to find opponents, but it’s been tough to find other girls who will commit to fighting me.”
“I think people are excited to see what I can do. Obviously, women’s MMA is huge now and it gets a huge amount of attention so that could be an exciting challenge for me.
“Ronda Rousey is my favorite fighter. I really look up to her, and to all the women who fight in UFC. To think that one day I could have an opportunity to be in the UFC competing, it’s just really exciting.
“I watch all the women’s UFC fights. If I can’t catch the fights late at night, the first thing I’ll do in the morning is to get up and watch them. I also like watching Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the UFC’s women’s strawweight champion.
Dakota won this year’s Daily Mirror Pride of Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year award.
You can follow her fan page on Facebook here
