2024 PFL Championship results: Ditcheva steals show with TKO of Santos

The PFL crowned six new champions at the 2024 season finale Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with each winner taking home a $1-million grand prize.

In the main event, Timur Khizriev defeated 2022 featherweight champion Brendan Loughnane via unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46) to capture the 145-pound title.

Khizriev stayed undefeated with ease, outstriking and outgrappling Loughnane in a one-sided fight. He left his opponent's face covered in blood by the third round.

The 29-year-old Russian competed in his first season with the PFL following a three-fight stint under the Bellator banner. He beat Gabriel Braga, Enrique Barzola, and Brett Johns to reach the final. Khizriev now holds an 18-0 professional record.

Loughnane returned to the final this year after winning the title in 2022 but then failing to make the playoffs in 2023. The 34-year-old Englishman's record falls to 30-6 with the defeat.

Perhaps overshadowing the main event was Dakota Ditcheva's performance in the co-main event.

The budding star put on a clinic against Taila Santos, stopping the former UFC title challenger at the 4:41 mark of the second round to claim the inaugural PFL women's flyweight title.

A punch to the body crumpled Santos and forced the referee to step in.

Ditcheva passed the biggest test of her career with flying colors, putting a comprehensive, tactical beatdown on Santos. The 26-year-old Englishwoman is still undefeated at 14-0 and is now arguably the face of the promotion.

"(Santos had) been saying, 'She's just a Barbie, she should be a model,'" Ditcheva said in her postfight interview. "Well, a model just beat your ass in Round 2, so shut up."

Ditcheva was a step ahead of Santos from start to finish, displaying an edge in speed, accuracy, and power. She picked her apart with a variety of strikes: punches, leg kicks, elbows, knees to the body, and kicks to the face. Ditcheva hurt Santos earlier in the second round before putting a bow on the impressive performance with the body shot.

"She's a tough girl," Ditcheva said of Santos. "But I knew what I was capable of. I've worked so hard."

Ditcheva is now the youngest champion in PFL history. She debuted in the promotion in 2022 and competed under the PFL Europe banner in 2023, earning the women's flyweight title with three straight stoppage wins. Ditcheva's success prompted the PFL to add the women's 125-pound division to the global season for 2024.

"Dangerous" is now 9-0 in the PFL overall has earned 13 of her 14 pro wins inside the distance.

Santos reached the final in her first year with the PFL. The 31-year-old Brazilian was released by the UFC late last year after suffering two straight losses, including a split-decision defeat to champion Valentina Shevchenko. Santos had never been stopped in a fight before facing Ditcheva and now sits at 22-4.

Dovlet Yagshimuradov denied Impa Kasanganay's bid to win the PFL light heavyweight title in back-to-back seasons in emphatic fashion.

Yagshimuradov demolished Kasanganay in the 205-pound final, stopping him with a barrage of strikes 58 seconds into the first round to become the new champion.

Yagshimuradov won the belt in his first PFL season after coming over from Bellator. Kasanganay, a former UFC fighter, was 8-1 in the PFL before Friday's loss.

Shamil Musaev topped Magomed Umalatov in a battle of undefeated Russians, scoring a devastating TKO to claim the PFL welterweight title. The fight ended at the 1:44 mark of the third round.

Musaev faked a right and then uncorked a missile of a left hand to crumple Umalatov.

The victory moves Musaev to 20-0-1 as a professional, while Umalatov falls to 17-1.

Gadzhi Rabadanov became the PFL lightweight champion with a thunderous knockout of Brent Primus, face-planting the former Bellator champ at the 2:31 mark of the third round.

Denis Goltsov finally captured the PFL heavyweight title in his fifth season with the promotion, putting Oleg Popov to sleep with a slick triangle choke. The finish came at the 2:55 mark of the first round.

Goltsov failed to advance to the heavyweight final in 2019, 2021, and 2022 and was the runner-up in the 2023 season, losing by knockout to Renan Ferreira.

After the victory, Goltsov said he wants to face PFL heavyweight superfight champion Francis Ngannou next year.

Goltsov ended Popov's 17-fight winning streak, which dated back to 2018.