Impa Kasanganay and Johnny Eblen will represent PFL and Bellator, respectively, in champion versus champion warfare. PFL vs Bellator emanates from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 24th.
The journey from being on the wrong end of a viral knockout in the UFC to Joaquin Buckley to PFL Challenger Series and winning the PFL light heavyweight title outright has imparted a feeling described as “pure gratitude”. This was how Kasangany described that million-dollar victory resonating in him but he has a lot more mapped out.
An incredible spot to be in considering Kasanganay was living in his car at one point in time. But yet he always stayed the course and had faith. MMA is not a sport, it’s a lifestyle and committed process to ‘Tshilobo’.
Impa Kasanganay
Though he is fighting the Bellator middleweight champion next, a possible Francis Ngannou super fight is something Kasanganay is also trying to manifest into reality. The Florida native has a focus on going into the 2024 regular season after this fight as well.
In discussing various goals for the future, he stays focused on MMA. But there are some worthwhile outside-of-the-cage efforts he is eyeing too. Using his platform for good to provide relief to Africa in the form of health care and overall humanitarian work is something the surging fighter eyes. He also wants to enact more of this change stateside and seemed inspired by his mom, a nurse working in the oncology unit.
“Dude, Johnny Eblen, man, he’s a solid fighter. He embodies the word pressure, he comes to fight, he attacks, right. He’s usually always attacking like when he counters he puts himself to be dangerous everywhere, right. I really respect that, right, he’s very, very good. He’s put the work in, he’s wrestled at a high level, he comes from a solid gym right. You can tell he listens, he puts the work in to the game. So I really respect that, you know. For me, I’m going to dominate or else I wouldn’t have taken it.”
PFL vs Bellator
“Obviously that doesn’t take anything away from Johnny but you know these are the fighters and the fights that you have to elevate yourself as a fighter. Until like once you claim this victory it’s the next prize, the next prize possession… It’s a big prizefight. This is the one that like we take him out boom, okay cool, you’re blessed. We just keep getting better, keep getting better, check out the next one.”
“You keep getting better, you keep getting better, and I believe that it’s one of those fights. You don’t always get to fight many like I would say warriors throughout your time. You might fight people who are lower in the ranks but when you get a guy who’s kind of like a general. A guy who leads the gym and is respected among his ranks, it’s an indication of who I’m called to be. Like I know I’m eager, you know. Like I’m looking forward to it. I’m dialed in and focused, so.”
“Man and it’s such a cool part to be part of that history. Just a part of history on this card, ATT-Kill Cliff. I didn’t really get the ATT-Kill Cliff thing until my last fight. I fought, back in the day, four people from that gym… It was kind of like whoever. It’s like another tribe but on the other way.”
Impa Kasanganay vs Johnny Eblen
“Like they’re 15 minutes from our gym and I was looking at like hey you’re 15 minutes away. They’re just another part of the same kind of territory and you’re fighting for the land and that’s pretty cool to me. So yeah, man, it’s like one of those historical battles. They could probably make an anime off of it. Make a movie off it right. So, damn.”
