Cedric Doumbe, a former Glory Kickboxing two-weight world champion, plans to appeal his first MMA career loss, which occurred after referee Marc Goddard declared a TKO victory for Baissangour Chamsoudinov (Baki) due to a splinter in Doumbe’s foot, a decision Doumbe believes was a mistake.
Cedric Doumbe’s still scratching his head over last Thursday’s events. He went head-to-head with Baissangour Chamsoudinov, aka “Baki,” in PFL Europe 1’s main event. The first two rounds were neck and neck. But then, round three happened.
Referee Marc Goddard called a halt to the match. Why? A splinter in Doumbe’s foot. Doumbe was quick to voice his disagreement, but Goddard wasn’t having any of it. He declared a TKO victory for Baki, citing Doumbe’s injury.
Doumbe later chatted with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. He shared his side of the story and questioned Goddard’s handling of the situation. “Initially, I tried to remove the splinter myself,” Doumbe said. “When that didn’t work, I raised my hand and told the referee about it.”
But Goddard’s response? “Don’t stop, keep fighting.” Doumbe felt unheard. He felt dismissed. So, he got back into the fighting stance.
“I didn’t want Baki to kick me in the head while I was trying to remove the splinter,” Doumbe continued. “But I knew he wasn’t that kind of guy. He saw something was wrong with my foot and asked about it. I told him about the splinter.”
Baki then spoke to the referee, suggesting he let Doumbe remove the splinter. But instead, Goddard stopped the fight. Doumbe was stunned. “I didn’t stop the fight!” he protested. But Goddard wasn’t listening.
Doumbe was disappointed. He and his team had trained for three months. They had done a lot of marketing for the fight. It was sold out. Everyone was excited. But then, in Doumbe’s words, “Marc Goddard just stole the fight.”
“Big” John McCarthy, a rules expert, defended Goddard’s decision on the PFL broadcast. But Doumbe still feels that the unusual circumstances warranted a different reaction from Goddard. “I’m not a little girl. I can fight, I’m a man. But a splinter is something outside of the fight,” Doumbe argued.
Doumbe is now planning to appeal the loss — his first in his MMA career. Regardless of the appeal’s outcome, he insists on a rematch with Baki. “I want to win fairly,” Doumbe said. “So of course I want a rematch. We have to give the fans what they want. We have to figure out who is the best between him and me.”