'it Will Only Get Worse' - Ditcheva On Social Media Abuse

Dakota Ditcheva says she expects societal media maltreatment to only get worse arsenic she continues her fighting career.

The 27-year-old is accelerated becoming 1 of nan astir recognisable female faces successful MMA and she has much than 300,000 followers connected Instagram.

Ditcheva is utilized to going viral for her knockouts, but arsenic calls turn for societal media platforms and governments to do much to protect users, specifically female athletes, Ditcheva says he has stopped reference comments connected her posts.

"[Hate] is simply a fixed successful this sport, which is truthful upsetting to person to judge that and beryllium prepared for that arsenic a sports jock and it's thing I've benignant of been training myself for," Ditcheva tells BBC Sport.

"My mum is perpetually making judge I'm not reference definite things and preparing maine for it getting worse and maine avoiding it. I'm fortunate I tin speak to my parents and siblings."

Ditcheva has spoken openly successful nan past astir nan sexualisation she faces connected societal media and precocious had a man interaction her mother claiming they were successful love.

"I had a definite personification who started messaging my mum and saying we'd been speaking, and that I liked their station which meant that we were together and successful love, and it sewage really obsessive," Ditcheva says.

"It benignant of freaked maine retired and it sewage really intense, nan type of worldly they were typing. I was fortunate I had my mum who helped maine woody pinch that and benignant of explicate what these group are going to beryllium doing.

"This is not thing we're calved to understand, and calved to put up pinch these unusual occurrences each nan time, we're conscionable normal group surviving normal lives and getting worried astir stuff."

Obsessive and vulnerable messages are not thing caller for female athletes.

Tennis prima Katie Boulter said to BBC Sport astir maltreatment and decease threats she has received online.

Ditcheva's mother Lisa Howarth is simply a erstwhile combatant herself and was a multiple-time kickboxing world champion. Ditcheva's relative is often seen astatine her broadside astatine fights.

Last month, PFL combatant Ditcheva travelled to South Africa wherever she beat Sumiko Inaba to enactment undefeated, contempt fracturing her manus successful nan bout.

After fights is usually erstwhile Ditcheva switches disconnected from societal media, but she says a complete detox is not thing she tin spend to do.

Several of nan Lionesses stepped distant from societal media during their triumphant Euro 2025 campaign, including Jess Carter who revealed she had been nan target of group abuse.

"Us fighters struggle pinch [switching off]. If we don't support posting, support our accounts engaged, past promotions don't want america and we don't build our name," Ditcheva says.

"It would make a batch of quality for fighters if they didn't person to enactment progressive successful that important [fight] week."

As athletes proceed to speak retired astir nan maltreatment and nan government committed to exploring further information measures, Ditcheva echoed calls from Boulter and others to present personality verification.

"Verification and having to upload your passport aliases things for illustration that would make it safer, it would alteration everything," Ditcheva says.

"People are only brave erstwhile they tin hide down weird accounts, and erstwhile they person to put their sanction to thing it would automatically unopen them up consecutive away."