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Cedric Doumbe suffered the first loss of his mixed martial arts career in a very bizarre fashion. Baysangur Chamsoudinov picked up a third-round TKO victory against the former two-time Glory welterweight kickboxing champion after a bizarre toe injury led to referee Marc Goddard calling the fight. MMA Orbit shared footage of the ending, captioning the post:
"What just happened at #PFLParis? 😳 Marc Goddard stops the fight in the final round due to a toe injury to Cedric Doumbe. BAKI WINS. 😱"
Check out footage of the bizarre PFL Paris ending below:
Fans took to X to react to the strange ending. @GamepadderX requested the return of Mario Yamasaki, who was known for letting fights continue:
"Bring back Mario Yamasaki"
@THATSHITmcCRAY sarcastically labeled Goddard as incredible:
"Marc Goddard is incredible lol wtf."
@thavenNFT questioned:
"Worst stoppage in history?"
@authenticMrF referenced former British boxer David Haye, who famously blamed his heavyweight title bout loss to Wladimir Klitschko on a broken toe:
"Doumbe gettting a case of David Haye toe wasn’t the outcome anyone would have called. Fighting is a wild business."
@shanestott believes the fight should have continued:
"Riddic. Let them fight. Or tap out."
@TyyyJets blamed Goddard for ruining the event:
"Disgusting. Goddard ruined a huge event in Paris."
@KaktykJack claimed that the injury was not his fault:
"He obviously stepped into something which is not his fault. Wrong call by Goddard imo"
@accilz compared Goddard to Marvel Comics character Thanos:
"marc goddard collecting ruined events like infinity stones"
John McCarthy explains Cedric Doumbe loss
'Big' John McCarthy is widely considered one of the greatest mixed martial arts referees of all time. While he retired from the job in 2018, he remains heavily involved in the sport as an analyst.
Speaking on the broadcast, McCarthy explained the bizarre ending to the PFL Paris main event, stating:
"What we have right now if you're looking when you see Baki, he does back up, but when you see Cedric Doumbe say, 'I have something wrong with my foot', there's nothing that's been done that's illegal so he's going to have to fight through the injury. It's what we call self-inflicted."
He continued:
"And then you see them start to go and Baki stops like, 'hey, you don't want to fight?' And Cedric again looks at Marc Goddard and points to his foot, illustrating that he has an injury to his foot. Once that's done, Marc Goddard has got to call the fight. The fight is over. It is a technical knockout victory for Baki based upon what we call a self-inflicted injury."
Check out John McCarthy's comments on Cedric Doumbe's loss below:
Doumbe alleged that he had glass in his foot following the bout. However, fans suggested the injury looked more like a splinter. While it is unclear how he suffered the injury, he may look to appeal the loss.
