French superstar Cedric Doumbe will make his Bellator debut next month as lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov sadly drops out of Champions Series event.
Ahead of the PFL-Bellator’s return to Paris next month, there’s both good news and bad news spreading across social media today with confirmation that whilst one MMA superstar returns, another has been pulled from the card.
Bellator Champions Series confirms headline attraction for Paris
Bellator’s Champions Series returns on May 17, 2024, with the highly anticipated MMA event set to be available to stream through Max in the US and in France, and on DAZN in the UK.
Today, Bellator officially confirmed the full card with Patchy Mix set to defend his bantamweight world title against surging contender Magomed Magomedov in the main event of the evening.
Whilst MMA fans around the world will be delighted to see the addition of Cedric Doumbe’s name featured front and center, many will also be bitterly disappointed to hear that Usman Nurmagomedov has been pulled from the event.
Cedric Doumbe comes in, while Usman Nurmagomedov drops out
After the official announcement for Bellator: Champions Series Paris, two major stories are dominating the headlines: The return of Cedric Doumbe, and the withdrawal of Usman Nurmagomedov from the card.
Doumbe controversially suffered the first loss of his professional MMA career in March 2024 when he sustained a splinter to his toe in round three against Baki, yet confusion around a potential time-out resulted in referee Mark Goddard waving off the bout as KO/TKO loss for ‘Le Meilleur’.
As part of a press statement released by DAZN, PFL CEO Peter Murray confirmed that they had re-signed “the French superstar to a multi-year contract extension,” which he claimed had “been one of our highest priorities since he joined the promotion last year.”
“Cedric is a large part of our continued growth in France, and now he will compete at Bellator Champions Series Paris on a fight card that can be streamed by fans in the U.S. on Max, as he continues his trajectory through our global leagues.”
Doumbe will return to Paris on May 17 to face American Derek Anderson, who holds a professional MMA record of 17-4 with his last bout ending in a KO/TKO loss to Michael ‘Venom’ Page back in 2021.
Unfortunately, whilst Cedric Doumbe is confirmed to feature on the Parisian Bellator Champions Series card, one man who sadly won’t be fighting at the event will be lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.
According to the official announcement, the clash between Nurmagomedov and Alexandr Shabliy has been postponed due to Nurmagomedov suffering an injury – the nature of this injury has not yet been shared.
The good news is that Bellator did note that this bout will be rebooked “in the near future,” with Nurmagomedov remaining one of the biggest names in the recently merged roster.
The full card is as follows:
- Patchy Mix vs Magomed Magomedov – Bantamweight world title
- Cedric Doumbe vs Derek Anderson – Welterweight
- Gregory Babene vs Costello Van Steenis – Middleweight
- Yves Landu vs Jonas Bilharinho – Featherweight
- Archie Colgan vs Thibault Gouti – Lightweight
- Slim Trabelsi vs Louie Sutherland – Heavyweight
- Mansour Barnaui vs Yusuke Yachi – Lightweight
- Imamshafi Aliev vs Mike Shipman – Middleweight
- Aspen Ladd vs Ekaterina Shakalova – Featherweight
- Asael Adjoudj vs Bruno Fontes – Featherweight
Bellator Champions Series returns to action on May 17 from the Accor Arena in Paris, France.