5 Things You Might Not Know About Cedric Doumbe

Professional Fighters League power brokers have high hopes for Cedric Doumbe.

The decorated kickboxer turned mixed martial artist will make his hotly anticipated organizational debut when he confronts MMA Factory export Jordan Zebo in the PFL Europe 3 welterweight headliner on Saturday at Zenith Paris La Villette in Paris. Both men sit at a perfect 4-0. Doumbe last competed on March 4, when he dispatched Pawel Klimas with punches in the second round of their pairing at a Mixed Martial Arts Grand Prix show.

As Doumbe approaches his forthcoming battle with Zebo at 170 pounds, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. Combat sports have taken him far and wide.

Doumbe was born on Aug. 13, 1992 in Douala, Cameroon—a port city of nearly six million people located some 3,800 miles to the south of where he now resides in France. He has competed in 11 different countries as a professional boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist: France, the United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, the United States, Belgium, Germany, China, Morocco, Australia, Switzerland and Slovakia.

2. He can carry the weight of a bull’s-eye.

While he has held titles in the World Kickboxing Association and other organizations, Doumbe remains best known for his work in Glory. There, he enjoyed two reigns as the promotion’s welterweight champion, the first from Dec. 10, 2016 to Aug. 25, 2017 and the second from March 9, 2019 to Nov. 16, 2021.

3. Great expectations do not unnerve him.

Doumbe took his first professional mixed martial arts assignment at the age of 29 and did not disappoint, as he buried Arbi Emiev with punches a little less than five minutes into their Nov. 1, 2021 pairing under the Superkombat banner.

4. Health concerns kept him out of the Octagon.

The Alantide Boxe 87 rep signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and was scheduled to meet Darian Weeks at UFC Fight Night 209 in September 2022. However, the French MMA Federation refused to sanction the match due to a commission rule that mandates that fighters with less than 10 professional bouts cannot have more than a four-fight differential with an opponent. It was later revealed that issues with a brain scan led to the cancellation and Doumbe’s subsequent release from his UFC contract.

5. His strength of schedule leaves something to be desired.

Doumbe has needed a grand total of 27:03 to procure his four MMA victories. However, those four wins have come against opponents with a combined record of 10-8.