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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Cedric Doumbe is sticking with the PFL.

The French superstar and former kickboxing champion has inked a multi-fight, multi-year extension to remain with the PFL after only two fights with the promotion.

In addition to his new contract, Doumbé has his next fight set as he faces veteran competitor Derek Anderson at the upcoming Bellator Paris card scheduled on May 17 from the Accor Arena with the event airing live on Max in the United States.

PFL officials announced Doumbé’s new deal along with his fight on Monday.

“Re-signing Cedric Doumbe to a multi-year contract extension has been one of our highest priorities since he joined the promotion last year,” PFL CEO Peter Murray said in a press release. “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.”

After serving as GLORY welterweight champion, Doumbé decided to make the full-time switch to MMA after dabbling in the sport starting back in 2021. He made his PFL debut in blistering fashion with a stunning nine second knockout this past September.

Unfortunately his second appearance didn’t go as well after Doumbé ultimately lost a fight to Baissangour Chamsoudinov after he suffered a toe injury in the third round that forced the referee to stop the contest.

Rather than rebooking that fight, PFL officials opted to shift Doumbé to a new matchup instead against Anderson, who holds a 17-4 record with one no contest in his career including an eight year run with Bellator. Anderson hasn’t fought in nearly three years after losing to Michael “Venom” Page back in 2021.

Now Anderson faces Doumbé at the upcoming Bellator Paris card on May 17. The main event features bantamweight champion Patchy Mix defending his belt against Magomed Magomedov.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Jake Paul makes a sizeable offer to face Jorge Masvidal within the MMA ruleset.

Masvidal is currently booked to face Nate Diaz in a boxing match on June 1, roughly four-and-a-half years on from their BMF title match in the main event of UFC 244. 

The bout will also be the first of several boxing matches Masvidal is set to compete in. The 39-year-old had retired following his fight against Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 but felt the urge to compete again, like many fighters. 

Jake Paul calls out Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz

With the switch to boxing, Masvidal has also opened the door to being involved in ‘crossover’ boxing events, which has the chance of netting him a big paycheque. 

The biggest one of these fights would come against Paul, who has managed to make quite the impression on the combat sports scene over the past few years. Paul has also faced several former MMA fighters, why draw the line at Masvidal?

Paul has even gone as far as say he would be willing to face Masvidal in an MMA fight. Paul had signed to PFL last year but nothing has been made official in terms of an actual MMA fight. 

“The one thing I will say, they’re digging their own grave,” Paul said on his BS podcast. “I’m being so serious when I say that I want to fight them in MMA. Either Masvidal or Diaz in the PFL. $ 10,000,000 offer for either one of those guys. Again, they will literally hide behind the fact — Masvidal, ‘You can’t even box. What the f*** are you going to do coming over to MMA, bro? I’m f****** from Miami, Florida, bro. F****** f*** you, dude, don’t disrespect me you f****** jamoke.’ F****** bird brain, that’s what he hides behind.”

Paul would even call out former UFC champion Sean Strickland and rising contender Paddy Pimblett. 

“Same with f****** Paddy [Pimblett] and Sean Strickland, all of these guys hide behind these crazy things, but still none of them have shown up to the table to talk any business about anything to make anything actually happen in a real fight, a real spar,” Paul continued. “Whatever it is. So the offer still stands there. I want either one of those guys in MMA.”

Who wins in MMA, Jake Paul or Jorge Masvidal?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Criticism
| BJPenn.com

Johnson will be ‘MMA fighting in a cage’ in preparation to play Mark Kerr in the upcoming A24 movie set to hit theatres in 2025.

Hot off the heels of a headlining role at WrestleMania, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is kicking off an MMA training camp in preparation for his next movie.

Way back in 2019, Johnson announced plans to star in a biopic on NCAA Division I champion turned UFC and PRIDE FC fighter Mark Kerr. The wheels of Hollywood turn slowly, but the project is finally on the verge of filming under the indie production company A24 (Civil War, Midsommar) banner. Benny Safdie (best known for Uncut Gems) will direct, while Emily Blunt is rumored to co-star.

In a new Instagram video, “The Rock” shared his excitement for the project.

“With WrestleMania behind me, my second training camp of 2024 begins tomorrow for my next role in a film titled The Smashing Machine,” he wrote. “My body’s banged up from Mania, but no injuries and feeling great – ready to go. Starting my MMA workouts tomorrow. I’m coming into this in pretty good conditioning and cardio shape, but MMA is a different animal. And Mark Kerr was a ‘one of one’ monster.”

Kerr was a fearsome fighter at his peak who used his wrestling pedigree to put opponents in bad positions and then smash them into a bloody mess. But as he reached the peak of the sport, his struggle with steroid addiction and depression overwhelmed him, costing him several fights and nearly his life.

“I run to this Smashing Machine journey with deep respect and love for all MMA fighters and the culture,” Johnson said. “Especially those who have struggled with addiction. I’ve lost so many friends (wrestlers) over the years from addiction and mental health struggle – from suicide to, it was just their time to go. This is my love letter to them. Let’s get to work.”

It will be interesting to see whether any of Dwayne’s MMA training makes its way onto his social media. “The Rock” isn’t one to let people see him struggle — for years, there have been persistent rumors that he was contractually required to win all his Hollywood fights. That won’t work for a biopic on Mark Kerr, who started his career on a twelve fight win streak but then went 3-11 on the downside of his combat sports days.

The Smashing Machine is currently slated for a 2025 release. Those too impatient to wait can check out the award winning 2002 documentary of the same name which captures Kerr’s tragic implosion in real time.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The ‘Blonde Bomber’ Ebanie Bridges is fed up with the never-ending stream of rumors regarding her relationship with Irish megastar Conor McGregor.

In December, Bridges brandished a tattoo promoting McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout on her torso ahead of a fight with Miyo Yoshida at a Matchroom Boxing event in San Francisco.

In the months since, the OnlyFans star has been spotted canoodling with Conor McGregor on multiple occasions, even flying out to Dublin to spend the night partying with the Irishman at his pub, Black Forge Inn. Since then, rumors have been flying about the pair’s relationship with most media outlets suggesting that things are far beyond friendship between the two combat sports stars.

However, Ebanie Bridges insists that there is nothing of the sort going on with McGregor, who has four children with his longtime fiancée Dee Devlin.

“Yeah, it’s f*cking annoying [that I have to defend our friendship] because it’s so clear to me,’ Bridges told instantcasinos.com. Maybe I’m either really smart or I just think it’s common sense. I think they [fans] have this little fantasy that we’re f*cking, and then they get excited about that and maybe go have a w*nk. 

“I don’t know but that’s all I can think of. Because honestly if there was something going on, I feel like we wouldn’t be together in public if we were doing something like that. I wouldn’t be wearing that branded clothing all the time and having a Forged Irish Stout in my hand all the time. It’s clearly promotion. 

“They want to think it up in their head for whatever reason, for their own little fantasies or to try and bring me down or to try and bring Conor down, because he has a lot of haters as well. But in the end, the people that are saying that, they’re just trying to spread rumors and make things up or make themselves excited” (h/t DailyMail).

Ebanie Bridges Insists Her Relationship with Conor McGregor is purely business

The Aussie boxer previously stated in an interview that the pair’s frequent appearances were nothing more than a business agreement between the two.

“He uses me for clout really,” Bridges said in November. “He’s sponsoring me to get his brand out. That’s what sponsors do,’ she said at the time. We met at the AJ fight and I wore his brand there, because he’s using me to get his brand out. Otherwise he’d be wearing a stout shirt.

“But we work together because he knows – me and him – will get people talking about his brand. It’s not that I need him, but we both help each other out, we are both an asset to each other’s brands, we both help build each other, it’s not one-sided.”

After nearly three years on the shelf, Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon on Saturday, June 29 for a long-awaited clash with former Bellator MMA champion Michael Chandler at UFC 303.

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