Cedric Doumbe’s mixed martial arts (MMA) negotiation roller-coaster ride has come to an end as he gets set to embark on a new journey with Professional Fighters League (PFL).
The French kickboxing Welterweight phenom, Doumbe (4-0 in MMA, 75-7-1 in KB), had everything lined up to debut in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at its France debut this past September 2022. Scheduled to debut opposite Darian Weeks, Doumbe, unfortunately, missed out on the opportunity and ultimately was let go by the company without ever stepping into the Octagon.
This past week (May 11, 2023), Doumbe, 30, signed with PFL and couldn’t be happier about it.
“I really have a better contract with PFL — PFL is the future and I’m very [happy] with my contract right now,” Doumbe told The MMA Hour. “I will show a great Cedric Doumbe for France, for Cameroon, for Africa in the PFL.
“Ten times [bigger than UFC’s],” he added regarding his contract. “I’m very happy. I’m very glad now, but now it’s time to buck up. It’s time to win because I’ve talked, and talked, and talked.”
Doumbe revealed along with his signing announcement that he’ll be making $140,000 per fight in PFL, trumping the measly $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win contract he was on with UFC. “Le Meilleur’s” PFL debut is set for June 23, 2023, at 2023 PFL 6 against Jarrah Al-Silawi.
Even though he was cleared by “three different doctors,” the briefly tumultuous spell with UFC was an odd one for Doumbe who was essentially let go because of medical reasons. On top of that, France’s athletic commission instates a rule that fighters must be around similar experience levels to compete.
“A doctor made a mistake in that test and [it said that] I have blood in my brain, and I used to do it like so many times when I fought — I had one boxing for it and I used to do it — I signed the paper to the UFC,” Doumbe said. “I didn’t even check, and they [responded] to us that I can’t fight because the MRI is bad. So that’s why I didn’t fight [at] UFC Paris, that was a very big mistake.
“There is a law in France [that I can’t] fight an opponent — [since I have] under 10 fights — with five fights [more than I have].
“That was crazy. I was in the audience in Paris,” he concluded. “The arena was sold out, the French audience was crazy. I was very sad. I was watching [my] teammate [Cyril Gane], all of the French fighters, they were amazing and I was very, very sad, but I knew that my time would come [with] God’s plans. So I was sad, but it is what it is.”