WATCH | Cedric Doumbe suffers third-round stoppage loss in odd fashion: “That is the referee’s fault”

Cedric Doumbe suffered a third-round stoppage in odd fashion on Thursday at PFL Europe 1.

Doumbe was headlining the card against Baysangur Chamsoudinov, in a fight the Frenchman was a betting favorite in. The fight was competitive early on and many had it one-to-one going into the third round.

In the third round, Cedric Doumbe started to complain about his foot or toe to ref Marc Goddard. Goddard then told him to keep fighting, and when Cedric didn’t move forward or engage, Goddard stepped in and stopped the fight.

https://twitter.com/mma_orbit/status/1765861682696384581

It was a very odd stoppage and immediately Cedric Doumbe complained. It appeared he had a splinter from the cage or canvas in his toe which was bugging him. But, Doumbe asking for a timeout was enough for Goddard to call the fight which is why he suffered his first career loss.

Following the loss, Doumbe gave his explanation for what happened, and why the fight was stopped.

Cedric Doumbe gives his side of the stoppage following his main event bout!#PFLParis pic.twitter.com/5X9HmmnrTx

— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 7, 2024

“First of all, thank you to everyone who watched the fight. I didn’t want to stop the fight, not at all, I wanted to fight as everyone saw, but I have, or I still have because I don’t want to remove it, I don’t want people to say I’m a liar. I have a small glass on my foot, I don’t know inside the cage, it is hurting me, I just want to remove it and keep going. The ref told me I can’t stop, so I say okay, I wanted to fight and then my opponent he is looking at me, he’s seeing something is annoying me, he says just remove it, we stop both together looking at the ref and they stop the fight. Of course, it’s not his fault, that is the referee’s fault, It is what it is, I don’t know what to say, I still have the things on my toe, I don’t know what to say,” Cedric Doumbe said after the loss.

What exactly was in Cedric Doumbe’s toe is uncertain, but there could be a case for him to appeal the result and get it overturned to a No Contest. But, for now, Doumbe is 5-1 as a pro MMA fighter.