Impa Kasanganay vies for interim middleweight gold on July 18th against a familiar foe. A sequel clash with Johnny Eblen is set for PFL Austin as the Smart Cage touches down in Texas this weekend.
Since Costello Van Steenis got injured and the middleweight champ had to pull out of a rematch with Eblen, another rematch was locked in with Impa Kasanganay and Johnny Eblen initially fighting on the PFL vs. Bellator card when the former initially acquired the latter organization.
The two combatants here both secured notable victories at PFL Pittsburgh with Johnny Eblen besting Bryan Battle and Impa Kasanganay finishing Dalton Rosta. Addressing some of the intriguing moving parts of this matchup set for Saturday and the overall middleweight hierarchy in Professional Fighters League, Impa Kasanganay quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“The middleweight division of PFL, it’s an excellent, solid division. It’s high quality and there are all these fights from champion to number 20, right, they’re all great fights to be had. I think the PFL going into this more traditional style of matchmaking versus the tournament, which was still exciting.”
“This is a way to showcase the best of the best and the best warriors fighting the best warriors. So, it’s an honor to be a part of it. I like it. I’m very, very grateful that I claimed that victory in Pittsburgh versus Dalton [Rosta] and he has an exciting fight coming up with Bryan Battle. So, it just shows you where the PFL is.”
It can be wild how much things can just change in such a relatively short period of time with a headline circa July of last year spotlighting how Impa Kasanganay was being candid about a two-fight losing skid he was on and how he let himself get distracted.
Now it’s July 2026 and his on a two-fight winning streak heading into a looming title fight on Saturday night. The first ever interim title fight the PFL has ever done goes down in the coming days and when touching on the interesting perspective pieces mentioned here, Impa Kasanganay stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, I was distracted. Excellent fighters, right, that I fought. It’s more about constraint sometimes than just what you add on. A lot of times about what you refine and prove out your life. Now, like July 18th, claim this victory, move forward, get the title. Claim that title and defend it, do all the great things. It just shows you that when you stay focused on your path and that’s a credit to my family, to my girl, to my trainers. Specifically [Daniel] Deeder, Herbert [Burns], and Robbie Lawler… You’re not self-made is what I’m saying, right.”
“Like you’re not self-made, you’re not a person who is on this journey alone and I’m grateful for that. I shouldn’t be, right [laughs]? Cuz sometimes we make decisions on our own that take us away off our path. But to be focused, to be able to do what I love, and to be here is the most lethal version of yourself.”
“If you let your past define you, you’ll never grow. If you think your present is the only thing, you’ll never get to see what all you can be. If you only stay focused on the future, you’ll miss right now. So being planted where my feet are has been a huge, huge thing for me. I’m doubting because where we’re going on this path, it’s going to be very, very special. It is special.”
PFL Austin’s impa kasanganay is present and isn’t focused on his past with johnny eblen
Balancing the idea of not being too rooted in the past, in the context of this being a rematch with Eblen and how that all coalesces into what his fighting methodology will be against the former Bellator MMA champion after previously losing to him via split decision in February 2024, Impa Kasanganay said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yes sir. Yeah. So I look at it like the past is the past. You don’t fight your past. You learn from it. You collect information, you take data from it, and you come back better. I’m a Christian, I say like you have to kill your old self.The old version of yourself is dead right. So that’s the passing. I’m not here to fight. I had seven fights since then. I’ve grown, I take notes from it. I really recognize where Johnny is still an excellent fighter. He’s a championship level fighter, right. So there’s a lot to take from it, yet I’m not here to prove that I won the first one.”
“I’m not here to prove even that I’m better than him. I’m here to show who I am and who God has called me to be. That to me is the highest version of what you can be, right? I’m not here to; because let’s say something happens this weekend, Johnny can’t fight, right? Or he’s injured or he’s sick. I don’t pray that because you don’t want to miss out on a great matchup like this. But I also look at it like you get so fixated on a person or thing, you chase it, you don’t always get what you want.”
“When you just focus on the task at hand and ignore the smoke and mirrors, then you get what you need in life, right? So, I’m not so much fixated on the past at all. I’m grateful for the past and where it’s brought me to because that’s what I needed to become who I am today and where I’m going.”
Touching on the Van Steenis title unification bout that looms in the distance if he gets his ideal outcome in the Lone Star state, Impa Kasanganay quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, it’s a task that I’m focused on, right? It’s a job that I will complete and yeah, like you said I don’t overlook Johnny. I understand all the implications that come with claiming this victory, right? So, I focus on what matters most. Focus on what I can control. Do what I know and when that time comes, be there for it, right? There’s so many factors, right? There’s so many ifs, but what do I know right now is that on Saturday I claim victory and I enjoy every single day up till then, enjoy that day.”
“Claim that victory and move forward. Then yeah, like you said like the plan would be [Costello] Van Steenis, [when] he’s ready to go and then you do that. It’s like when you’re a kid, you pray to be great. You pray to be special at what you do and here we are. So I’m going to own it.”
