“I didn’t know how to say splinter” - Cedric Doumbe explains PFL France controversy involving referee Marc Goddard

PFL welterweight Cedric Doumbe recently opened up about the bizarre ending that led to his loss at PFL France.

On March 7, Doumbe returned to the smart cage following his victory over Jordan Zebo in his PFL debut, improving to 5-0 in mixed martial arts. The PFL France card featured Doumbe facing undefeated prospect Baissangour Chamsoudinov.

Doumbe experienced defeat for the first time in his mixed martial arts career. The former two-time Glory welterweight kickboxing champion lost to Chamsoudinov via third-round TKO after suffering a strange toe injury.

Doumbe repeatedly complained about his foot, and in the third round, referee Mark Goddard stopped the fight between the two Frenchmen.

Check out Marc Goddard calling off the fight below:

In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, the French superstar spoke to Ariel Helwani about his controversial loss at PFL France. When asked about his conversation with Goddard, he said:

''If you see the footage, I tried to remove it by myself with the other foot. Didn't work, so then I raised my hand and talked to the referee. I said, I have something under my foot as I didn't know how to say Splinter.''

Check out Cedric Doumbe's full comments below (2:37):

'Big' John McCarthy, a former MMA referee who is now an analyst, gave an explanation of the conclusion during the broadcast. He said:

"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."

Check out John McCarthy's full explanation below:

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Marc Goddard shed light on Cedric Doumbe's loss at PFL France

Cedric Doumbe's fight against Baysangur Chamsoudinov at PFL France came to a controversial end in the third round. He lost to Chamsoudinov via TKO due to a strange toe injury.

In a recent interview with La Sueur, referee Marc Goddard explained his decision to end the fight. He said:

''At the beginning of the third round, Cedric Doumbe was trying to point out something to me, saying there was a problem, by showing me his foot. At that point, no foul was committed. If a foul is committed, I can stop the action and then make a decision. If there's an illegal action, voluntary or not, that's what we call an 'open play', the fight was in progress. He was signalling to me that there was a problem. The rules are very clear: for obvious reasons, a fighter can't take a time-out.''

Catch Marc Goddard's full comments below (0:26):