'It will only get worse' - Ditcheva on social media abuse

BBC News

14 hours ago

Dakota Ditcheva says she expects social media abuse to only get worse as she continues her fighting career.The 27-year-old is fast becoming one of the most recognisable female faces in MMA and she has more than 300,000 followers on Instagram.Ditcheva is used to going viral for her knockouts, but as calls grow for social media platforms and governments to do more to protect users, specifically female athletes, Ditcheva says he has stopped reading comments on her posts."[Hate] is a given in this sport, which is so upsetting to have to accept that and be prepared for that as a sports athlete and it's something I've kind of been training myself for," Ditcheva tells BBC Sport."My mum is constantly making sure I'm not reading certain things and preparing me for it getting worse and me avoiding it. I'm lucky I can speak to my parents and siblings."Ditcheva has spoken openly in the past about the sexualisation she faces on social media and recently had a man contact her mother claiming they were in love."I had a certain person who started messaging my mum and saying we'd been speaking, and that I liked their post which meant that we were together and in love, and it got really obsessive," Ditcheva says."It kind of freaked me out and it got really intense, the type of stuff they were typing. I was lucky I had my mum who helped me deal with that and kind of explain what these people are going to be doing."This is not something we're born to understand, and born to put up with these strange occurrences all the time, we're just normal people living normal lives and getting worried about stuff."
'People are only brave when they can hide'
Obsessive and dangerous messages are not something new for female athletes. Tennis star Katie Boulter spoke to BBC Sport about abuse and death threats she has received online.Ditcheva's mother Lisa Howarth is a former fighter herself and was a multiple-time kickboxing world champion. Ditcheva's brother is often seen at her side at fights.Last month, PFL fighter Ditcheva travelled to South Africa where she beat Sumiko Inaba to stay undefeated, despite fracturing her hand in the bout.After fights is usually when Ditcheva switches off from social media, but she says a complete detox is not something she can afford to do.Several of the Lionesses stepped away from social media during their triumphant Euro 2025 campaign, including Jess Carter who revealed she had been the target of racial abuse."Us fighters struggle with [switching off]. If we don't keep posting, keep our accounts engaged, then promotions don't want us and we don't build our name," Ditcheva says."It would make a lot of difference for fighters if they didn't have to stay active in that crucial [fight] week."As athletes continue to speak out about the abuse and the government committed to exploring further safety measures, Ditcheva echoed calls from Boulter and others to introduce identity verification."Verification and having to upload your passport or things like that would make it safer, it would change everything," Ditcheva says."People are only brave when they can hide behind weird accounts, and when they have to put their name to something it would automatically shut them up straight away."