Hawaiian flyweight Sumiko Inaba returns to action at PFL Pittsburgh this Saturday, where she takes on debuting UFC alum Ariane Lipski da Silva.
Inaba (8-2) finds herself fighting in a new-look Professional Fighters League this year. Gone are the tournaments, promotion founder Donn Davis, and even Francis Ngannou. It’s traditional matchmaking, for the most part, from here on out.
“I think it’s good. PFL started off a little bit different, and I was like ‘okay, just go with it.’ And now it’s like ‘okay, there’s rankings, there’s new things happening.’ I think it’s going in a great direction,” Inaba told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview ahead of her fight. “PFL has only been great to me, so I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Inaba never actually fought under the PFL’s tournament format, after an alternate bout fell through. “I still got to fight the champ, so it turned out being great. I think everything happened the way it did for a reason,” the former Bellator star noted.
That fight against PFL Global champ Ditcheva, the promotion’s #1 flyweight currently, was Inaba’s most recent. The lessons learned in it, which saw Ditcheva win on the scorecards, are something “Lady Samurai” believes she can apply to her next fight.
“I couldn’t just be more proud of how I was able to last. I was able to test myself against the best, someone at her level. I sometimes don’t realize the level that I’m at, and it’s almost a reality check for myself,” she stated.
Spending 15 minutes in the cage with Ditcheva “gives me some confidence boost. All that experience I got from that fight I can just translate and just bring it into this one coming up.”
This time up it’s UFC veteran Lipski da Silva, also a former KSW women’s flyweight champ. Upon getting the offer for the fight, “I was very excited,” admitted Inaba. “UFC vet, she has a great name, I think she has a great style and styles make fights. I think it’s going to great fight between me and her, I think it’s going to be a great win, winning over someone with that name. I think it’s going to be an exciting one for March 28.”
Despite not having fought in the promotion, da Silva is already ranking in the PFL’s top 10 at flyweight. Inaba is ranked a few spots up, which she noted is “fuel to just keep it going and keep my name where that number is.”
The match-up could lead to bigger things. Ditcheva is out injured at the moment. Prior to her hitting the sidelines, she’d been booked into a fight with Denise Kielholtz, not Liz Carmouche as many had anticipated. Inaba for one isn’t trying to get caught up in the what-ifs and possibilities however.
“I just want to have a good win for this next one. I’m not looking past it at all really. It’s hard to predict with PFL. The last one I wasn’t really expecting to get Dakota yet, and then I got Dakota. This one, it’s a great opponent, it’s a great place for me to show my skills and hopefully come out with a great performance. And then from there, that can skyrocket me into different directions.”
Inaba, like many fighters these days, has two jobs: there’s mixed martial artist, and parent. Certainly for women, having children is no longer a barrier to fighting professionally. Which is harder? Well, there’s no ruleset stopping kids from biting or hair pulling for one.
“I’d say being a mom for sure,” Inaba laughed. “I have a now 17-year old, and then a 4-year old. So I have the best of both words right now. It’s fun, they keep me on my toes all the time. Fighting’s like escape time for me almost, it’s like my fun time. So definitely I’d say mom life is tougher, so shoutout to all the moms out there.”
Watch our full interview with PFL Pittsburgh’s Sumiko Inaba above. The event takes place this Saturday, March 28, 2026 at the UMPC Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA.
