PFL Paris: What happened at Cedric Doumbe vs Baki fight? Know about controversial stoppage from Marc Goddard

PFL Paris had an exciting main event between two undefeated French fighters, Cedric Doumbe and Baissangour Chamsoudinov, a.k.a Baki. The buildup to the fight had elements of Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov in the French capital. Moreover, Doumbe even went to troll Baki with a hilarious skit on social media where he booked a hospital for his opponent. Unfortunately for Doumbe, the fight ended in a controversial TKO victory in favor of Baki via stoppage from Marc Goddard.

Doumbe was the favorite for the fight, but Baki proved to be a game opponent. After two rounds where both fighters showed their mettle, the third round began cautiously. Doumbe could not launch any offense as he showed some discomfort, which caught the attention of referee Marc Goddard, who urged them to fight. Doumbe again showed discomfort, and this time, Goddard stopped the fight.

The stoppage shocked and surprised Doumbe, who went on to explain what had transpired before the stoppage. Doumbe had a shard of glass or wood on his toe, which was a foreign object. He initially told Baki about it in the center of the cage, which made Goddard intervene. The referee urged them to fight.

Doumbe told Baki about it again. This made Baki relay it to Goddard, who asked Doumbe what happened. The acclaimed kickboxer showed his foot, which might have made Goddard think it was an injury he had inflicted during the fight.

John McCarthy explained what transpired from the referee’s point of view

John McCarthy is one of the most respectable referees ever. Now retired, McCarthy was part of the Bellator MMA broadcast team and now has a different role with PFL after they acquired Bellator. His new role is to provide technical analysis from the point of view of referees and judges.

McCarthy explained the controversial stoppage of the fight between Cedric Doumbe and Baki. He agreed with Marc Goddard’s stoppage of the fight. He explained that Goddard was in the right to call off the fight if a fighter refused to fight. As Goddard had urged the fighters to engage, he was definitely in the right.

McCarthy explained that Doumbe told Goddard that something was wrong with his foot, but the referee could only halt a fight if something unfair happened. Since there was no evidence at the time that the problem happened unfairly, Goddard could not halt the fight without stopping it. Nonetheless, since the shard of glass was a foreign object, there is a chance that the result could be changed to a No Contest.

What happened in the first two rounds?

Even though many predicted an easy victory, Cedric Doumbe did not have an easy time against Baki. The opponent, Baki, used his wrestling to good effect in the first round. He particularly used Doumbe’s naked kicks against him as he took his opponent down. It was an easy round to score for Baki.

However, Doumbe used his jab to full effect in the second round and even dropped Baki. The Dagestan-born fighter could not effectively grapple with Doumbe as Doumbe’s distant game yielded great results. The round was an easy round to score for Doumbe.

The controversial stoppage did not sit well with both Doumbe and Baki. Both called for an immediate rematch, and Baki even called for a higher purse and a bigger venue for the rematch. Doumbe congratulated his opponent and blamed Goddard for the abrupt ending.

In case you missed it!

• “They f**ked up!” French MMA superstar Cedric Doumbe will NEVER open doors for Dana White’s UFC again
• “It’s like Conor vs Khabib” – PFL superstar Cedric Doumbe’s SPECTACULAR fight announcement takes MMA world by storm

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