Dan Hardy Names PFL Star Who Is On Track For A 'Legendary' Career In Combat Sports

This past Saturday at the PFL's debut event in Paris, a new superstar pushed his way to the front of the queue in the promotion. 

Bringing a massively established profile with him into his first fight in the promotion, Cédric Doumbé made it clear that he has everything to be huge for the PFL going forward.

Backing up all of his trash talk and pre-fight theatrics with an electric performance, he closed the show in just 9 seconds to seal his fifth pro win since transitioning to MMA from kickboxing.

In an interview with for SiriusXM on Unlocking the Cage, former UFC title challenger Dan Hardy, who now heads up fighter operations for PFL Europe, spoke about the other elite kickboxers who have made their way into MMA.

Though this is still just the start of his journey in MMA, Hardy expects similar levels of greatness, if not more, from Doumbé going forward.

"Throughout the history of mixed martial arts, we've had good kickboxers that have crossed over and had good success, you know, even the likes of Mark Hunt and Mirko Cro Cop. I mean Cro Cop, when he fought Coleman, that was the blueprint of how to be a kickboxer in a MMA fight. 

It was just supreme takedown defense and lethal striking and you've mentioned Adesanya and Pereira. Two guys that have got really outstanding kickboxing careers, they step over into mixed martial arts and you know, they had a few trials and tribulations as we expect Cédric to have as he climbs through the rankings."