Fast facts
- Division: Welterweight (PFL); boxing return at cruiserweight (200 pounds)
- Record: 6-1 MMA; 1-0 pro boxing
- Nationality: French, born in Douala, Cameroon
- Team/gym: Trained monthly at Mejiro Gym in Amsterdam (2015-2016), with Andre Mannaart in his corner for several fights
- Notable wins: Nieky Holzken (twice), Murthel Groenhart (twice), Harut Grigorian, Alim Nabiev, Jaleel Willis, Jordan Zébo
In the video where Jake Paul promised to retire if he loses, he slipped in a line about the floor: “No kicks, no takedowns, and no glass on the floor, we checked.” It’s a decent joke, and it lands on the only loss on Cedric Doumbe’s MMA record. At PFL Europe 1 on March 7, 2024, against fellow unbeaten Baissangour “Baki” Chamsoudinov, a piece of glass embedded itself in Doumbe’s left big toe in Round 3. Referee Marc Goddard stopped the fight on the spot without assessing the injury, and Doumbe went home with a TKO loss he never really fought his way into.
That is the kind of thing Paul gets to joke about. The rest of Doumbe’s career is harder to laugh at.
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From Douala
Doumbe was born on August 30, 1992, in Douala, Cameroon. His father died in a car accident around the time he was born, and his mother raised him and his sister on her own. The family moved to France when Cedric was nine. He found full contact kickboxing in his late teens, enrolled in psychology at university, and eventually walked away from his studies to fight full time.
He didn’t ease in. In 2013 he won the French Full Contact Cup in the A-class 75 kg division, and on October 26 of that year he took the WKA Full Contact World Super Middleweight title from Boris Gryniv with a knockout in 13 seconds. His first loss came the following May in the Wicked One Muay Thai tournament semifinals, and it still reads like a clerical error. He dropped Raphael Mebenga in Round 2, the bout was scored a draw, the four judges split two and two on a forced winner, and a supervisor picked Mebenga. Doumbe’s camp protested both the result and what they considered a long count on that knockdown.
The Mejiro years
This is the part of the story I’d hand to any young striker. Between 2015 and 2016, Doumbe traveled to Amsterdam every month to train at Mejiro Gym, the room Rob Kaman made famous for its low kicks. A full contact fighter arrives with hands; Mejiro gave him the leg kicks to go with them. He trained alongside Roel Mannaart, and Mejiro sensei Andre Mannaart worked his corner for several fights, including in Glory. Every highlight reel of Doumbe’s prime has a little of that gym in it, and Andre Mannaart’s name rarely makes the caption.
His Glory debut, at Glory 22 in Lille in 2015, was a short-notice loss to Yoann Kongolo in place of Karim Ghajji. Then he beat Murthel Groenhart by unanimous decision, and in December 2016 he went in as an underdog against Nieky Holzken and won the welterweight title by split decision. He became the first French champion in Glory history, and Combat Press and LiverKick both named him Fighter of the Year for 2016.
He settled the Kongolo debt at Glory 39 in Brussels on March 25, 2017, then edged Holzken again by split decision at Glory 42 in Paris. The title went to Groenhart on a split at Glory 44 in Chicago. Doumbe went 4-1 afterward, beating Yohan Lidon, Thongchai Sitsongpeenong, Alan Scheinson and Jimmy Vienot, with a split loss to Alim Nabiev.
The second reign was the best version of him. He knocked Harut Grigorian down three times in Round 2 to take the belt back, then put Nabiev out with a right cross in Round 2 of their rematch. The Groenhart trilogy collapsed again and again, first from Doumbe’s elbow injury, then a COVID cancellation, then Badr Hari’s positive test and a Dutch lockdown. Ghajji stepped in on December 19 and was stopped in Round 3. When the trilogy finally happened at Glory 77, Doumbe ended it with an overhand right in Round 2. He left with the division records for title defenses (five) and title fight wins (seven), and announced his move to MMA at an Empire Fight event on October 3, 2021.
The cage
The MMA run has been short and strange. He stopped Arbi Emiev in Round 1 at Superkombat on November 1, 2021, then Chai Title in Round 2 in July 2022 after two replacement opponents fell through. A UFC debut against Darian Weeks on September 3, 2022 never happened. The French MMA Federation wouldn’t sanction it under a rule capping the experience gap for fighters with fewer than 10 pro bouts, and Doumbe later told Ariel Helwani that an MRI had shown blood in his brain, which he said was the other main reason the bout was called off. The UFC released him.
He rebuilt on the French regional scene, knocking out Florent Burillon at the end of Round 1 in December 2022 and stopping Paweł Klimas in Round 2 in March 2023. On May 10, 2023, he signed a two-year deal with the PFL after hearing offers
