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Impa Kasanganay recently discussed the upcoming 2024 PFL light heavyweight regular-season tournament, which gets underway tonight, and said he believes he will repeat as champion.
The 30-year-old's journey to being a world champion is well documented, and it doesn't appear as though he is content with one championship win. He will kick off his regular season by taking on former Bellator light heavyweight contender Alex Polizzi in tonight's main event, which takes place at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kasangany has been a force to be reckoned with since moving up to light heavyweight and has yet to lose a bout at 205-pounds. While speaking to ESPN's Brett Okamoto ahead of tonight's events, he stated that he is coming into this year's regular season with the same mentality and believes it will lead to the same result. He said:
"The way I felt last year walking into a tournament that I was champion before they even said it, right? It didn't matter if it was on paper or not...I knew I was a champion before I even stepped in to starting MMA. Now, I'm going to go on this season, I'm gonna claim this title too. You know, I got five fights this year. PFL 2024 light heavyweight champion."
It will be interesting to see whether last year's experience will give Impa Kasanganay more confidence to repeat as PFL light heavyweight champion since he is familiar with the format.
When did Impa Kasanganay last compete?
Impa Kasanganay will be competing after a relatively short layoff when he steps into the SmartCage tonight. He most recently competed at the PFL vs. Bellator: Champions vs. Champions in Saudi Arabia this past February.
'Tshilobo' returned to 185-pounds to fight reigning Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen at the event. It ended up being a tightly contested bout that saw the 2023 PFL light heavyweight champion drop 'The Human Cheat Code' in the second round.
Both fighters had their moment, but Eblen would end up earning the split decision win after the judges scored the bout 29-28, 29-28, and 28-29 in his favor.
