He left with a thorn in his side. Two months after his retirement against Baki, Cédric Doumbé will return to the Accor Arena. On May 17, the French fighter will return to action during the Bellator Champions Series. He will be opposed to the American Derek Anderson, who has a positive record (17-4). During this announcement, the CEO of the PFL took the opportunity to confirm the extension of Doumbé. “Renewing his contract was one of our priorities since he joined the PFL last year,” he explains. Cédric is one of the main reasons for our growth in France,” he declared.
More than two months after his epic defeat against Baki in Paris, French MMA fighter Cédric Doumbé will return for a duel against the American Derek Anderson on May 17 at the Accor Arena.
Doumbé will fight as part of the “Bellator Champions Series Paris”, according to a press release sent to AFP by the organization, Bellator having become a franchise of the PFL, the American mixed martial arts league, since last November.
The Frenchman (welterweight), who has five wins and one loss, “has also signed an exclusive, multi-year contract extension with the PFL and will make his debut for Bellator just after his participation in PFL Europe Paris,” the press release indicates. . Derek Anderson (17 wins, 4 losses), 34 years old and nicknamed “Barbaric”, has won in three of his last four appearances in Bellator.
Cédric “The Best” Doumbé, 31, will therefore make his return to the Accor Arena in Paris-Bercy, for the first time since his fight, organized by the PFL and lost against Baysangour “Baki” Chamsoudinov on March 7, for a case of a splinter in the foot. The long-awaited duel ended with a taste of unfinished business when the referee chose to stop the hostilities at the start of the third round, after Doumbé complained of a splinter in his toe.
The referee then gave the victory to Baki, causing the amazement of the 15,000 spectators present at Bercy. The two fighters quickly discussed a possible rematch, which will therefore not take place for the moment.
The other main fight of the evening will pit the Russian Magomed Magomedov (16 wins, 1 loss) against the American Patchy Mix (19 wins, 1 loss), who will thus defend his bantamweight belt. Among the other French people entered on May 17, one of the pioneers of French MMA, Grégory Babene (23-11), will fight against the Dutchman Costello van Steenis for a world champion title in middleweight.