The Professional Fighters League bills its playoff format as the toughest test in MMA. To reach the finals, a fighter needs to win three times in four months and to get the title, one must win four times in seven months. It's daunting, especially in an era when the stars often fight twice a year.
But that's nothing for Impa Kasanganay, who on Friday in Hollywood, Fla., will be fighting for the ninth time in 17 months. It's an insane, breakneck pace but Kansanganay is showing no ill effects. He'll open the 2024 playoff season Friday in Hollywood, Fla., in search of a second consecutive light heavyweight championship as a whooping -550 favorite over Josh Silveira.
He's 7-1 in his previous eight fights and 8-1 in his last night extending back to 2022, losing only to Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eileen in that span.
"A lot of people just don't think they can," fight that often, Kasanganay said. "I just have a different drive. I've done what I know I could do coming out of all this. Sometimes, I'm like, 'You're crazy. Why would you do all of this?'"
Kasanganay is different from most fighters, though. When they get into training camps, they're like hermits and often don't venture out. Many of them talk about needing to be selfish to be an elite fighter.
But Kasanganay not only is willing to break camp, he'll fly to other cities to do public appearances.
It may not work for everyone, but being active has clearly worked for him. He's getting better as time goes on and is still on track to keep his goal of finishing all of his opponents alive. He has stopped Alex Polizzi and Jakob Nedoh in the playoffs and has finished four of his last five wins.
He's also hopeful of meeting the right woman and having children, and isn't necessarily waiting until after his fighting days are over.
It'd be a motivation for him to keep being successful.
"I know from what I see coming down the road and the trajectory of MMA and what I want out of my life, and when I say what I want out of my life, it's my family's life; my future family's life," he said. "I'm single, not married. No kids. But one day I will get married and have kids. I believe that the work and the grind that I'm putting in now will one day be a blessing for them. So that's what I'm working for.
"So when you have the why, when you have the reason to say what you're going to become, like the best to ever do it, it creates a focus. I don't just want to be another star. I just don't want to be another fighter. I want to be a guy who was in the UFC and who is in the PFL and I want to become the one. That's my focus and that's my challenge for myself."
He's hoping to finish Silveira on Friday and fight his way into the finals for the second consecutive year. After that, who knows?
"I want to fight 17 more years," said Kasanganay, a 30-year-old who turned pro in 2019.
He was kidding when he said that part about fighting 17 more years.
I think.
2024 PFL playoff bracket