A week after Costello Van Steenis put on an impressive performance by dominating and then submitting Fabian Edwards in round three at PFL Madrid for his first title defense of his PFL Middleweight championship, Johnny Eblen and Impa Kasanganay put the champ on notice with impressive finishes of their own.
First up was Kasanganay, who found himself in a fire-fight against Pittsburgh’s own, Dalton Rosta, who was out to impress the hometown crowd with a show in the co-main event. And that’s just what he and Kasanganay gave them as the two engaged in an all-out brawl in round one which saw them stand in the center of the cage and swing for the fences. In the end, it was Kasanganay who connected the shot that sent Rosta crashing to the canvas only to eat a few more follow up shots.
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In the headlining bout, Eblen came out and simply suffocated and domianted Bryan Battle, who probably should not have been in there with “Pressure” in his PFL debut. Nevertheless, Eblen did what he had to do and bullied “The Butcher” for as long as the fight lasted, slamming him to the canvas repeatedly before securing an air-tight rear-naked choke that gave him the first-round win.
Check out finishes below:
It seems logical now to book a rematch between Eblen and Kasanganay after their first fight back in 2024 resulted in a split-decision win for Kasanganay. Should that come to pass, a win for Eblen would give him the opportunity to possible rematch van Steenis, who defeated him in 2025 to win the inaugural PFL Middleweight strap. A win for Kasanganay would give him the opportunity to fight for his first ever official PFL world title.
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