Former UFC star Dan Hardy has described Cedric Doumbe’s clash with Baysangur ‘Baki’ Chamsoudinov at PFL Paris as the “biggest prospect fight in all of mixed martial arts.”

The Professional Fighters League returns to the French capital where undefeated duo Doumbe and Baki face off in the welterweight division on Thursday evening.

The event between the two Frenchmen  at the Accor Arena, for which tickets sold out almost instantly, comes after Doumbe’s impressive first-round victory over Jordan Zebo in September.

Hardy, now the PFL head of fighter operations, talked up the encounter, comparing poster boy Doumbe to the likes of Jon Jones and Conor McGregor.

“We’re very fortunate to have Cedric Doumbe and he makes my life very easy,” Hardy told the PA news agency.

“In terms or marketability and technical ability I don’t think there’s anyone who comes close to Cedric. I have to look at the likes of Jon Jones and Conor McGregor to find someone who has the same impact on the fans.

“The crowd in September was 90 per cent Doumbe but Baki (Chamsoudinov) this time will have a lot of support as well. He’s undefeated, he has Khamzat Chimaev in his corner, you know what to expect from both of these guys.

“To me, this is the biggest prospect fight that can be made in all of mixed martial arts right now.

“We’ve had to reorganise the arena to get more fans in.”

The Chechen-born Baki boasts a strong wrestling background which will test Doumbe’s stand-up style.

Hardy believes the fight could prove to be a risky one for 31-year-old Doumbe.

“Because he’s fighting Baki everyone feels that this is a fight in which he could potentially lose,” he said.

“Baki could take him down, control him against the fence and make him look like a beginner in MMA. We haven’t had those questions answered in Doumbe’s game yet.

“It’s a very risky fight for Doumbe. If I was his management then this is not the fight I would of picked for him. Baki’s taken this fight and is probably thinking ‘Doumbe is crazy, he’s a good fighter but he’s not fought anyone like me before’.

“If I was a cautious matchmaker trying to build Doumbe up then this is not a fight I would make. But I’m a former fighter who is an MMA fan and I want to see this fight.”

Hardy also sees the reasons why Doumbe would take on the 22-year-old Baki’s challenge.

“I can’t underestimate a fighter like Doumbe, he knows himself so well,” Hardy said. “He plays the range and psychological game really well and I just wonder if any of the games he’s playing leading into this fight will have any impact on Baki.

“Cedric has taken this fight because it’s a shortcut to the top. If he gets the win then he can start looking at champions and think ‘I want to fight you’.”

Jamaican-born UFC Welterweight Champion says plans are in motion for his to defend his belt at the UFC’s biggest event of 2024, UFC 300, in Las Vegas in April.

The reigning welterweight champion was in attendance for a match in Birmingham, England, between his club Aston Villa and Burnley on December 30 and he was brought on the field to address the fans at halftime.

During his brief interview, Edwards announced that he plans to fight at UFC 300 and then also defend his title again sometime this summer in Birmingham.

“I will defend my belt in April at UFC 300 in Vegas again, then hopefully in the summertime get a show back in Birmingham at Villa Park,” Edwards said.

“I’m in talks with the UFC, so hopefully we can get it done,” he added.

The UFC has announced several high-profile bouts for its milestone event on April 13, including Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic and Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar, but the lineup is still without a title fight.

It appears that an Edwards title defense could be in the works or, at the very least, that the champion is volunteering his services.

Edwards closed out 2023 with a unanimous decision win over Colby Covington at UFC 296 in December. It was Edwards’ second consecutive successful defense of the welterweight title and his 12th straight win (excluding one no-contest).

That one no-contest came against current #2 ranked welterweight, Belal Muhammad, who could very well be Edwards’ next opponent.

Since that fight three years ago, Muhammad has won five fights in a row. Overall, Muhammad’s record stands at 23-3 and he hasn’t lost a fight since 2019.

Savannah Marshall aims to make sporting history with a rematch against Claressa Shields in MMA and would relish “choking her out” if the two were to meet in Professional Fighters League.

Undisputed super-middleweight world champion Marshall signed a multi-year deal with the mixed martial arts promotion, joining her longstanding rival Shields, who she beat as an amateur before losing by unanimous decision in October 2022.

And Marshall believes a rematch with Shields in boxing is unlikely, but predicted a fight in the cage would be even bigger than their previous contest.

“The opportunity I was presented to by PFL (Professional Fighters League) was amazing and something that I really couldn’t walk away from,” Marshall told the PA news agency.

“The PFL have been interested in me since my fight with Shields last October and working alongside my manager we managed to get something over the line.

“Yes definitely (Shields was the motivation to sign for PFL), I don’t think I get the rematch in the ring and it’s more likely that I get it in the cage, and so that added to the decision making.

“I’m naturally stronger and we’re both in the same position even though she’s had two fights in the cage – Shields beat Brittney Elkin before losing to Abby Montes.

“But I think I beat her, I really do and, for me, she beat me in the ring so I have a chance to even it in the cage and this is not something that has been done in sport before.

“It would be unbelievable, it would be huge. I think the first fight was huge and this would be even bigger.

“I would definitely make it 1-1. I’d relish in just choking her out and squeezing the breath out of her.”

Marshall’s majority decision victory over Franchon Crews-Dezurn in July saw her crowned super middleweight queen – she now holds the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF belts.

And the Hartlepool fighter, who also won The Ring championship against Crews-Dezurn, admitted the loss against Shields motivated her to claim victory last month despite considering quitting the sport last year.

“I’ve learnt a lot about myself after that fight I was ready to walk away and it really hurt me losing that fight,” Marshall added.

“But I came back and beat Franchon to become undisputed champion so it goes to show that when the going gets tough, especially at that level, there’s always something around the corner where the hard work pays off.

“It feels amazing to be an undisputed boxer and it’s a surreal feeling to have all five belts, and it’s amazing knowing that I’ve had my name cemented in history.

“I feel fulfilled in myself knowing how far I’ve come and my path could have took a different turn at any given point in my career.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Savannah Marshall (@savmarshall1)

Shields was ringside for Marshall’s last fight and was vocal throughout the night.

Marshall said: “Claressa is just Claressa and I don’t think she did herself any favours at all, and the way she went on at ringside was just embarrassing. I don’t think she helped herself there.

“She’s not my type of person and our personalities clash a lot.

“This rivalry has been going on now for over 10 years and she’s just not my cup of tea.”

Jamaican Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Randy “Rude boy” Brown will open a new five-fight deal with the promotion with a bout against Brazilian Wellington Turman.

This fight will be the first of a new five-fight deal Brown signed with the UFC after his last fight, a submission loss to Australian Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 284 in February.

“Just one of those things where I had one fight left on my contract and the company decided that they need to re-sign me,” Brown told SportsMax.TV.

“The price that they wanted to re-sign me at wasn’t right initially so we did some negotiating back and forth and settled on a deal in the middle that everybody was happy about,” he added.

The 32-year-old will take on Brazil’s Turman at UFC on ABC 5 on June 24^th at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.

Turman, 26, currently has an MMA record of 18-6 and a UFC record of 3-4.

Brown, whose record now stands at 16-5, says he has already started preparation for the bout.

“I started camp probably about three weeks ago. So far, it has been great,” he said.

Shiaeine Blake, Jamaica's 155lbs Rough Fight League (RFL) Amateur MMA Lightweight Champion, will be fighting for a kickboxing title at the International Combat Sports Championships set for the LB Scott Auditorium in Phillipsburg, St Maarten, on Saturday, December 3.

Blake will be part of an eight-member team that Jamaica sends to the championships considered to be one of the major combat sports tournaments for countries in the Caribbean and Central America.

The team also includes professional fighters mixed martial artist Kasrie Cassells, who will take on hometown boy Akeem Lewis at 185lbs in the feature bout and Nakia Anderson will battle for a title at 145lbs.

Also in the team sponsored by shipping company Aeolus Shipping, Caribbean Dreams and illmatic Services are amateur MMA fighters, Nicholai Reid and Demar Haslam. Blake fights in the amateur kickboxing category along with Roberto Williams, Chris Daley, and Shanice Blake, his sister.

Radcliffe Cunningham, Blake’s trainer explained that while his fighter does not have a record in kickboxing, his accomplishments in MMA qualify him to fight for a title this coming weekend. Notwithstanding his relative inexperience as a kickboxer, Blake, meanwhile, has expressed supreme confidence at coming home with the 155lb title.

“A beautiful victory shall be had,” he told Sportsmax.TV. “My base is in stand up. The groundwork is the most recent addition.

“I have been training in this for a while so I want to go and execute properly and have a beautiful performance. I want something that people will remember because oftentimes you watch fights and it’s just punches and kicks, I want my performance to evoke emotion. I want to display that artistic side of it.”

Having successfully defended his MMA title five times, including his recent victory over Trinidadian Joshua Jones in Trinidad in October, Blake has good reason to be confident. Having been in training all year, he has maintained his competition readiness. But for this coming tournament, he ramped up his preparation.

“I have been training six days a week for the past six to eight weeks but the training has not stopped all year because I have been in competition all year. Training for this, I have been getting in a lot more running, a lot more sparring than I usually do,” he said.

“So the training has been a little bit rough on the body; thank God Christmas is coming soon so we can get a little break and we can eat and not have to worry about diets and all that - but it’s all been done properly and in good faith that we are prepared properly for this upcoming event.”

Winning in St Maarten, he said, would also be a great way to build momentum into 2023 when he launches his campaign to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“I believe I am ranked first in the Caribbean so it is a matter of upholding that rank and lengthening the distance between me and the rest of the field," he said.

“Boxing nationals are coming up in January. I want to use that to qualify for other events that lead-up to the Olympics in two years’ time, so that’s the main medium-term goal I am looking at right now.”

Blake’s ambition and confidence has helped him attract supporting sponsors like Aeolus Shipping that in addition to backing the national team, has also built a strong relationship with the rising MMA star.

“We are so happy to be on board. We are definitely fans of boxing and MMA sports and to know that we have Jamaican talent in this sport is something that we want to highlight and spread awareness and we are looking forward to great things from Shiaeine and this brand partnership,” said Jessica Dewar, Marketing Director at Aeolus.

“We couldn’t be happier to be a huge support to his journey and we wish him all the best. Over the last two to three years we have seen him blossom and grow on his journey to become a huge brand representative for the country and in the international sphere. We are looking forward to seeing him do great things.”

He, in turn, expressed his gratitude for the support being provided for him and the team.

“We couldn’t have gotten the team over there without them and it is something that I have been talking with them about for some time,” Blake said.

“They have always supported the fights that I have. Them reaching out to us shows that there is support and their supporting us in this endeavor -  a lot of times when I compete and post things online people are saying is this really happening in Jamaica - the wider community doesn’t really know about it (the sport) so for them to now be on brand with us helping us to get out there to the wider public, we are really happy about it.”

The team departs Jamaica on Tuesday, November 29.