Exclusive: PFL CEO Peter Murray hints at an exciting fight for Cedric Doumbe in early 2025: "It'll be a national holiday in France"
PFL CEO Peter Murray recently provided an update on Cedric Doumbe's next bout and hinted at a massive clash being in the works. The former Glory welterweight champion kickboxer has taken the promotion by storm since transitioning to MMA with his exciting fighting style and has sparked interest in France.
Doumbe most recently competed at Bellator Champions Series: Paris this past May, where he earned a first-round TKO over Jaleel Willis. After the bout, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony 'Showtime' Pettis made his way into the cage for a faceoff and expressed interest in fighting 'The Best' in his home country. Despite the faceoff and interest from 'Showtime', it appears as though the PFL will be going in another direction.
During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, the PFL CEO provided an update on Doumbe's next bout and noted that his opponent won't be Pettis. Without disclosing any names, Murray mentioned that there are plenty of options and hinted at when and where fans could see Doumbe return to the cage:
"Cedric Doumbe's got a lot of options when he returns. We haven't announced his next fight yet and we're excited about that. So more to come on those details and I can understand why [Anthony] Pettis wants a crack at Doumbe, but there's a number of fights that we're in the process of lining up for Cedric. And there's one in particular that'll happen in early part of 2025, which I think it'll be a national holiday in France." [7:59 - 8:34]
Check out the full interview with Peter Murray below:
What is Cedric Doumbe's MMA record?
Cedric Doumbe has had a successful transition to MMA so far and currently boasts a 6-1 record.
The former Glory welterweight champion has competed under the PFL/Bellator banner on three occasions and is 2-1 since joining in 2023. It's important to note that his lone loss came as a result of a splinter in his toe.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see who the promotion matches Doumbe up with next as he appears to be ready for a step up in competition.
Check out highlights from Cedric Doumbe's PFL debut below: