Cedric Doumbe will once again impress the home fans.
Doumbe (5-1) and Derek Anderson (17-4-1) will compete in the Bellator Champions Series: Paris co-headliner on May 17 at Accor Arena in Paris. (1 loss, 1 draw), the promotion announced on Monday.
Lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov’s original main event title defense against Alexander Chablis was canceled due to Nurmagomedov’s injury. The match will be rebooked in the near future.
Doumbe has signed a multi-year contract extension with the PFL. After scoring a nine-second KO of Jordan Zebo in his promotional debut, the French superstar suffered a bizarre TKO loss to Baisanger Chamsuddinov in the 2024 PFL Europe 1 headliner in March.
After splitting the first two rounds with Chamsuddinov, Doumbe looked at referee Mark Goddard and pointed to the toes of his left foot twice in 10 seconds, indicating he was injured. This caused Mr. Goddard to give up the fight, much to the annoyance and confusion of Mr. Doumbe, who only wanted the splint on his toe removed. John McCarthy explained that he cannot take a timeout in the middle of a game.
Mark Goddard: “You know you can’t do that. You can’t take a timeout.”
Cedric Doumbe: “I never said I didn’t want to fight a second time.”
of #PFLPParis The main event ended in a strange way as Doumbe suffered a toe injury. pic.twitter.com/U6wKhHO6CC
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 7, 2024
Anderson has won three of his past four fights. The 34-year-old Bellator veteran hasn’t fought since May 2021, when he suffered a broken nose in a TKO loss to Michael Page via doctor’s stoppage.
As such, the Bellator Champions Series: Paris lineup includes:
Main card:
Patchy Mix vs. Magomed Magomedov – Bantamweight Title Fight Derek Anderson vs. Cedric Doumbe Gregory Baben vs. Costello van Steenis Jonas Vilhariño vs. Yves Landau Archie Colgan vs. Thibaut Gouti
Spare card:
Lewis Sutherland vs. Slim Trabelsi Mansour Barnawi vs. Yusuke Yachi Imamshafi Aliyev vs. Mike Shipman Aspen Ladd vs. Katerina Shakalova Asael Adjudge vs. Bruno Fontes
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and other content with mixed martial arts fans.
