A champion MMA fighter has said ‘it freaks me out a little bit’ after a man used Instagram to track her down at a luxurious Dubai hotel.
Dakota Ditcheva told how the person used a picture of a chocolate board gifted to her by the resort to work out where she was staying.
The Mancunian appeared shaken by the encounter as she was returning from breakfast during a week in the wealthy emirate and said that while the man was ‘really nice’, the episode did ‘scare me a little bit.’
Ditcheva, 26, is flyweight champion in the Professional Fighters League (PFL) and the first British woman to win an MMA world title.
She usually travels to the Middle East and the US for fights and other commitments with her brother and other family and team members but on this occasion was alone.
The unbeaten fighter, who won $1million (£785,000) in a PFL tournament last November, spoke about the incident on her YouTube vlog, which has 37,500 subscribers.
The incident followed a man who ‘exhibited fixated behaviour’ towards British tennis player Emma Raducanu being given a restraining order after she spotted him at a tennis championships in Dubai last week.
He is alleged to have followed her over four countries and to have also approached her at a hotel and given her a letter.
Although Ditcheva described the man as a well-meaning fan, the incident had clearly left her spooked after she returned to her room.
Lying in bed in her dressing gown, she said: ‘On the way back from breakfast then, somebody had seen that I was in this hotel on Instagram.
‘It’s my fault because I put a photo on of that board, the chocolate board that they brought to my room.
‘I put it on my Instagram Story which…I don’t normally share my location until I’ve gone.’
On the star’s YouTube channel, a housekeeper is shown bringing the chocolate board with her name and the PFL logo on.
Branding for the Five Luxe JBR, an ‘ultra-luxurious’ beach resort, briefly appears in her room and in a second video about her trip.
Instagram Stories, used to share quick, unpolished content, disappear after 24 hours and the clip is no longer on the platform.
‘Now, stupidly, I did that and I just got approached on the way back from breakfast, which was fine, I love for you guys to come up and say hi and things like that but when I’m on my own it freaks me out a little bit,’ Ditcheva said.
‘He said that he’d seen me on Instagram and he’d been DM-ing me and he was basically looking for me.
‘He was dead excited to see me which is really nice and he was a really nice guy but it does freak me out a little bit and that’s exactly why I don’t post my location until I’ve gone anywhere.
‘I’m sat in my room and I’m angry with myself for posting that, because I don’t normally do it. It’s always lovely to meet you guys but when I’m on my own and I haven’t got my brother or my mum with me it does just scare me a little bit.’
Philip Grindell, CEO of Defuse, a threat and risk management consultancy, works with people in the public spotlight to ensure their safety and security, including when they receive unwanted contact.
He said: ‘Even when an unexpected contact such as a fan coming to a hotel seems harmless and we are physically safe, the psychological impact can over-ride our emotional state.
‘The critical element for an elite athlete in such a situation is that they are not left hyper-vigilant and scanning for perceived threats, as this can result in a loss of focus and their ability to perform at their best.
‘Fortunately, they usually have a good sense of how to stay safe online and the support to deal with unwanted contact.’
Ditcheva, who claimed the women’s flyweight title with a run of decisive victories, was spending a week at a PFL event in the UAE.
She revealed the incident as she gave viewers an insight into her jet-setting lifestyle when she is not focused on an upcoming fight.
The rest of her trip appears to have gone smoothly as she took part in group training sessions, posed in a promotional shoot, joined a plush outdoor dinner and drove around in a Bentley.
MORE: 12 tips for staying safe online
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