Dakota Ditcheva outclassed Valentina Scatizzi to win the PFL Europe flyweight title at Dublin’s 3Arena.
Manchester’s Ditcheva, 25, landed a barrage of knees, causing heavy swelling around Scatizzi’s left eye which caused the doctor to wave off the contest at the end of the first round.
The victory continues the remarkable start to Ditcheva’s career, with nine finishes in her opening 10 fights.
The win also secured Ditcheva a $100,000 (£79,000) prize.
“Anything is next. Give me whoever you want, fight wherever you want. I’ll stay in Europe or go to America, I’ll clean them all out,” said Ditcheva.
In the light-heavyweight championship bout, London’s Simeon Powell was stopped in the second round by Slovenia’s Jakob Nedoh.
Nedoh, 27, rocked Powell with a straight right and dropped the 24-year-old with a left hook, before the referee ended the contest as it went to the ground.
Originally, a victory for each fighter in the PFL Europe finals would have seen them advance to the promotion’s global tournament, where each weight class yields a $1m (£794,000) prize for eventual winners.
But following the PFL’s acquisition of Bellator in a “transformative deal”, many fighters remain unsure of the direction their careers with the new combined company will take.
Ditcheva shows her class again
Like in previous bouts, former British Muay Thai champion Ditcheva was a heavy favourite going into the fight with Italy’s Scatizzi.
Her seven knockouts in nine bouts heading into the contest paints a resume unlike many others in women’s MMA, putting her on a par with MMA legends Amanda Nunes and Cris Cyborg, who both had six stoppages in their first nine bouts.
Ditcheva has credited her mum – former kickboxing world champion Lisa Howarth – for her dangerous striking, adding it “is in the genes”.
The first round saw 27-year-old Scatizzi pressuring Ditcheva and attempting to close the distance in a bid to nullify her striking, but this ended up playing into Ditcheva’s hands.
Multiple times she caught Scatizzi in a Thai clinch, and reminiscent of MMA legend Anderson Silva, unleashed a succession of knees to the body and face.
By the end of the first round Scatizzi’s left eye was heavily bruised and swollen, and, following a check-up from the doctor, the fight was stopped, despite the Italian’s pleads to carry on.
Ditcheva celebrated by dancing round the cage before being presented with her belt by fellow Mancunian and former PFL featherweight champion Brendan Loughnane.
“I could see she couldn’t see out of [her eye] for the last 30 seconds. That’s why I was pointing, there was no way the doctor was letting her out with that eye,” said Ditcheva.
“It’s funny because in Thai boxing I never thought my clinch was any good but in MMA I seem to be using it all the time, so I’ll take that one.”
Powell winning streak ended by Nedoh
There was disappointment, however, for fellow Briton Simeon Powell as the nine-fight unbeaten start to his career came to an end.
The opening round was entertaining and evenly contested as Powell controlled distance well to evade Nedoh’s heavy strikes, while attacking his legs with kicks.
Nedoh responded by grappling and landing an eye-catching back suplex, before Powell roared back again at the end of the round with a flying knee and succession of left-right combinations.
But Nedoh would have the final word in the next round as a straight right hand and left hook saw Powell fall to the canvas, before the referee ended the contest.
“It feels like a dream come true but I know this is only the beginning. What you can see you also do and I did this. I backed it up with hard work and dedication,” said Nedoh.
“I think we are so small but I just put Slovenia on the map. It’s a very big step for Slovenia in MMA, I’m very proud of myself and my team.”
Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Ireland’s Frans Mlambo and John Mitchell as they lost their respective finals.
Mlambo was knocked out by fellow bantamweight Khurshed Kakhorov, while lightweight Mitchell was stopped by Jakub Kaszuba.
On the undercard, Birmingham’s Tom Breese beat fellow light-heavyweight Cleiton Silva by rear-naked choke on his PFL debut, while Wales’ Brett Johns also made a winning start in the promotion by submitting David Tonatiuh Crol by triangle choke.
Johns was fighting for the first time in 15 months following a “tough year” of family loss and fight pull-outs that left him contemplating retirement.
Manchester’s Lewis McGrillen-Evans suffered the first defeat of his nine-fight career, losing out via unanimous decision to Brazil’s Weslley Maia.
