Cedric Doumbe put his whole career on the table at the second kickoff press conference for his boxing match with Jake Paul in Dubai. Paul looked at the stakes and shrugged.
“If you win, I retire,” Doumbe told Paul during the presser, according to a clip posted by Happy Punch on X.
Paul didn’t let it breathe. “I didn’t even know you existed before this. No one gives a f*ck about your retirement,” he shot back.
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That’s a cold response to a man offering to end his career on your behalf. It’s also a little hard to square with what Paul said earlier at the same event, when he spent a solid stretch talking Doumbe up. Per MMA Mania, Paul ran through the résumé himself, calling Doumbe a kickboxing world champion, a Glory champion and one of the best in MMA, then added that he’s young, still on top and has a big following. So Paul apparently never heard of the guy, and also knows his entire Wikipedia page by heart. Pick one, Jake.
The fight
The two meet in a boxing match on Dec. 24 at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. This week’s tour had two stops. The first was in Paris, where Doumbe’s fans came out in force, and the second was in Dubai for the locals who’ll be filling the arena on Christmas Eve. Sherdog flagged that the Dubai presser streamed on PFL’s YouTube page.
Paul’s pitch for the matchup leaned on rules and geography. He told the room that kickboxing won’t save Doumbe once the gloves are boxing gloves. “On December 24th, the legs will just be used for transportation,” he said, which is a good line and exactly the kind of thing that gets replayed if he’s right and memed into oblivion if he’s wrong.
He also called Doumbe “still a tune-up fight for me,” while in the same breath calling him “the perfect opponent for me.” Paul’s explanation for why this one got made was simple. He said he’ll fight “anyone, anytime, any place,” and that this was the fight that lined up and made the most sense. He pointed to Doumbe being Muslim and the event landing in Dubai, saying the whole thing is going to be a movie.
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Paul’s knockout résumé includes a first-round finish of Andre August in Orlando back in December 2023. Doumbe crosses over with a kickboxing pedigree and a fan base that clearly travels, judging by the Paris stop.
Quick take
I love a fighter who calls his shot, and Doumbe just called the biggest one available. Retirement stakes are the nuclear option of trash talk, and Paul’s “nobody cares” comeback is the correct villain move even if it contradicts the five minutes he spent reading Doumbe’s highlight reel out loud. The danger for Doumbe is obvious. He’s now fighting a guy who tells everyone he’s a tune-up, in a sport that takes his best weapons away, with his career as the side bet. If he lands, Paris parties for a week. If he doesn’t, Paul gets to retire a world-class kickboxer on Christmas Eve and he’ll never, ever stop talking about it. We find out Dec. 24 at Coca-Cola Arena.
