Johnny Eblen and Impa Kasanganay will represent Bellator and PFL, respectively, in champion versus champion warfare. PFL vs Bellator emanates from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 24th.
The Bellator middleweight champion takes on the PFL’s 205-pound titleholder later this week but the clarity wasn’t always there. When PFL bought Bellator, there was a bit of a limbo period for Eblen as PFL does not have a 185-pound division established.
The 14-0 mixed martial artist is sticking with the recent nickname ‘Pressure’ here, after consistently cycling through several nicknames previously. The Human Cheat Code, Diamond Hands, Seoulja Boy, and Jeblen are but a few examples of the monikers over the years that Eblen has used inside the cage.
Johnny Eblen
Derek Brunson is a potential opponent Eblen seems keen on fighting within the PFL super fight division that has become a relatively newer facet of the company. Also, Aaron Jeffery could represent a possible title defense of his Bellator crown later this calendar year.
But focusing on the task at hand, the 32-year-old is fighting someone who has accolades in PFL as a light heavyweight. With the accomplishment in a higher division and many seeing Eblen as the best middleweight today, when asked about the discourse a win here could create for where ‘Pressure’ is at pound-for-pound, Eblen quipped,
“I think it’d be good, man. It’s just; it’s a solid win. As long as I stay active and I continue to win and win in dominant fashion that I’m always going to be in the talk of it, you know. That’s kind of my plan is just to continue to get better, continue to increase my probabilities of winning, regardless of the opponent. Fighting any challenge that comes my way and taking it head on.”
PFL vs Bellator
Johnny Eblen had mentioned Vadim Nemkov vacating the Bellator light heavyweight title during the chat. When asked if that was a crystalized goal for him to one day become a dual division champion in Bellator MMA, Eblen stated,
“Yeah, that’s definitely a thing that crosses my mind that, you know, I possibly could do in the future. Definitely gets me more in the pound-for-pound talks. Just gets me more into GOAT talk, you know what I mean? Like that’s what I’m here to do is to kind of be one of the best to ever do it. You know, moving weight classes, getting multiple belts, and taking on new challenges is a part of that. So you know I really think as long as the money makes sense and the timing makes sense, I think we possibly could see that happen.”
The Iowa native has previously credited Kasanganay’s boxing ability and aptitude for getting up after being taken down. When discussing other standout facets of the PFL titleholder’s skillset, Eblen said,
“He’s durable and he has pretty good cardio. He knows how to pace himself as well. He’s a good athlete, man. He can move well, decently explosive, but I think I’m better than him in every way. So I think I’m going to show that February 24th, you know. I’m gonna go out there and really showcase why I’m better than him in every facet of the game.”
