Repeat champions are rare in any sport, and Impa Kasanganay wants to add his name to the exclusive list in the Professional Fighters League.
Kasanganay, 30, enters the cage with wins in eight of his past nine bouts, a unanimous decision defeat to current Bellator MMA champion Johnny Eblen the only hiccup. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native rebounded with back-to-back technical knockouts of Alex Polizzi and Jakob Nedoh during the PFL regular season, nailing down the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Kasanganay sports nine finishes among his 17 career victories. Silveira, meanwhile, snuck into the postseason on the strength of an injury-induced stoppage against Sadibou Sy in April. The 31-year-old American Top Team standout wrestled collegiately at Arizona State University before he transitioned to mixed martial arts and went on to become a two-division champion in the Legacy Fighting Alliance.
The Kasanganay-Silveira confrontation and its resulting fallout is but one storyline to watch at PFL 8. Here are three more:
Break the Wall Down
Sustained success has not yet allowed Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov to shed his facade of anonymity. The surging Turkmenistan native will once again step out of the shadows and into the spotlight when he toes the line against Rob Wilkinson in the other light heavyweight semifinal. Yagshimuradov heads into the playoffs seeded third, having bested the aforementioned Nedoh and Simon Biyong during the regular season. The 35-year-old “Wolfhound” has won five fights in a row. On the other side of the equation, Wilkinson aims to become a two-time PFL champion at 205 pounds. He qualified for the postseason as the No. 2 seed and has not suffered a setback inside the cage in more than six years. Wilkinson, 32, cruised to the 2022 PFL light heavyweight title with consecutive knockouts of Bruce Souto, Viktor Pesta, Delan Monte and Omari Akhmedov. Can Yagshimuradov punch his ticket to the final and introduce himself to a wider audience while doing so?
Best Foot Forward
Gadzhi Rabadanov has all the momentum he could want at this stage of the game. The American Kickboxing Academy product rides into his lightweight semifinal against Michal Dufort on an eight-fight winning streak that stretches back to December 2020. Rabadanov, 31, earned his spot in the Final Four at 155 pounds with unanimous decisions over Solomon Renfro and Elvin Espinoza during the regular season. A decorated combat sambo practitioner who has trained under Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and Javier Mendez, he held the Eagle Fighting Championship lightweight crown prior to his stint in the PFL. Dufort, meanwhile, went 1-1 in his regular-season assignments, as the H20 MMA-trained Canadian submitted Mads Burnell with a guillotine choke at PFL 2 in April before dropping a unanimous decision to Adam Picolotti two months later. Does Rabadanov capitalize on his opportunity and move one step closer to a life-altering paycheck?
Veteran Presence
Expect no shortage of savvy when Brent Primus and Clay Collard collide in the other lightweight semifinal. They have 55 pro bouts and nearly three decades of experience between them. Back-to-back rear-naked choke submissions of Renfro and Bruno Miranda propelled Primus to the No. 1 seed at 155 pounds and thrust new wind into the former Bellator MMA champion’s sails at the age of 39. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt was in possession of the Bellator lightweight title from June 24, 2017 to Dec. 14, 2018 and owns notable victories over Michael Chandler, Benson Henderson and Mansour Barnaoui. On the other side of the docket, Collard has lost three of his past four fights. An April 12 technical knockout of Patricky Freire propelled him into the semifinals. Which battle-tested martial artist will step forward after 15 minutes of hand-to-hand combat?