'My neighbour thinks I'm famous - it's mad'

Dyer has won the first five fights of her professional MMA career

Britain's Shanelle Dyer says it's "mad and exciting" that people think she's famous after her knockout of Mariam Torchinava went viral.

The 23-year-old Londoner stopped Georgia's Torchinava at PFL Europe 2 in Newcastle in June with a stunning first round head kick.

The footage was shared by Youtuber-turned-boxing star Jake Paul on X, with the footage receiving 377,000 views.

"I sent it to my little sister and she thinks I’m famous, my sister’s friends think I’m famous, my neighbour thinks I'm famous," said Dyer.

"It’s mad and exciting. I’m happy that people are seeing how good I am as a fighter."

The victory earned Dyer a play-off flyweight semi-final bout against Italy's Valentina Scatizzi, with the pair set to fight at Glasgow's OVO Hydro on Saturday.

"I’ve got the highlight knockouts and people actually know who Shanelle Dyer is and they’re gonna tune in on Saturday and realise it wasn’t a fluke and I can replicate those knockouts and performances every single time,” added Dyer.

Should Dyer beat 28-year-old Scatizzi, she will earn the chance to fight for $100,000 (£74,600) at the finals in Lyon, France on 14 December.

The event was won by Manchester's Dakota Ditcheva in 2023, who has since reached the final of the PFL's global competition this year, which yields a $1m (£747,000) prize.

Like Ditcheva, Dyer had a glittering career in Muay Thai, winning multiple titles, before transitioning to MMA, and she is taking inspiration from the 25-year-old.

"Obviously she won the European season last year and is going to win to win the global season this year. I’m going to emulate what she’s doing because she killed it last year," said Dyer.

"I’m going to kill it this year and we’ll both be double champs by the end of next season."