
Briton Ditcheva to fight on 'PFL Champions Series'
PFL flyweight world champion Dakota Ditcheva will not fight in the 2025 tournament, the PFL chairman Donn Davis has announced.Manchester's Ditcheva, 26, made history last year when she became the first British woman to win a major MMA world title and win the PFL's flyweight tournament.However the PFL (Professional Fighters League) has since announced sweeping changes to its format, which includes removing the $1m prize money and world title status from their US-based tournaments.As a result, Ditcheva will fight on the newly formed 'PFL Champions Series' which will get underway in July.Ditcheva has already said she wants to fight on home soil in Manchester next, but it is unclear at the moment how her opponent will be chosen.The PFL announced the flyweights that would compete in the 2025 tournament, with most of them having appeared in last year's series.Davis did not reveal any other names that would fight on the 'PFL Champions Series' but did say it was where "PFL tournament champions and Bellator champions come to fight", suggesting the 2025 PFL world champions would face the most recent Bellator title holders, like Usman Nurmagomedov, before the brand was discontinued in January.
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Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Billy Boston to become rugby league's first knight
He also became the first non-white player to represent Great Britain on a Lions tour in 1954, scoring 36 tries in 18 appearances in Australia and New Zealand, and featuring in a total of 31 international Test matches. 🫡 Arise Sir Billy Boston! 👏 Officially Rugby League's first Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire… — Rugby Football League (@TheRFL) June 9, 2025 Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: 'Billy Boston's knighthood is a historic milestone providing fitting recognition for the greatest player rugby league has ever seen. 'As MP for Wigan, this is a proud day for our town, for the Welsh nation, for rugby league fans across the country and, most importantly, for Billy and his family. 'The first knighthood for a rugby league player is long overdue recognition for a game that has contributed so much to our national life. This is the moment we right a historic wrong.' 👏 Everybody at Wigan Warriors is filled with joy that Billy Boston will be made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). Congratulations, Sir William John Boston KBE.#WWRL — Wigan Warriors 🍒⚪️ (@WiganWarriorsRL) June 9, 2025 Boston made a try-scoring debut for Wigan against Barrow in November 1953, and by the time he left the club in 1968, he had played in six Challenge Cup finals at Wembley, featuring on the winning side in 1958, 1959 and 1965. Wigan owner Mike Danson said he was 'thrilled' by Boston's award, describing it as 'a richly deserved honour which means this most humble of men rightly receives, at last, fitting recognition for his extraordinary efforts'. Boston's honour followed a sustained campaign by local councillors and MPs as well as leading figures in the sport, who have frequently pointed out the relative lack of recognition for rugby league compared to union, which has seen 20 knights anointed. Billy Boston (front row, far left) featured in six Challenge Cup finals with Wigan (PA Archive) Rugby Football League chief executive Tony Sutton said: 'On behalf of the Rugby Football League, and the sport of rugby league, it is a privilege to congratulate Sir Billy Boston on his knighthood. 'Sir Billy deserves to be recognised as an iconic figure in the history of British sport, for the way he overcame prejudice in his journey from working-class Cardiff to legendary status in Wigan, and became the most prolific British try-scorer in the 130-year history of rugby league.' The full King's Birthday Honours list is set to be announced later this week. It is understood Boston's award was brought forward due to concerns about his health.


Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
First rugby league player in sport's 130 year history to receive knighthood
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