Tওhere aren’🐭t many fighters as even-keeled as Impa Kasanganay.
“That’s actually one of my sayings: I’m not too high, not too low,” Kasanganay told The Post in a recent conversation. “I’m just full of joy, man. No matter how life is going, I have a pretty joyful perspective on life. … Some days are more challenging than others, but I wouldn’t ever call it hard.”
It’s that perspective that’s gotten Kasanganay, who not long ago was living out of his car, just one more victory from a $💃1 million payday if he wins the light heavyweight season crown at the PFL World Championship event on Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN+ pay-per-view).
Kasanganay (14-3, seven finshes) only turned 🎉pro in 2019, but he’s alre𝓰ady seen the highs and lows of the sport like few have.
Even as he insists it was not his goal to be UFC-or-bust, Kasanganay still managed to get there less than two years after his pro debut — a fortunate development considering a 🐻deal he made with his parents after the college graduate who earned degrees in accounting and finance left a desk job to focus on fighting.
“I said, ‘Hey, if I’m not in the UFC within two years, I’ll go back and get my CPA,” Kasanganay recalls telling his nonplussed parents, who immigrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo before he was born. “… And that’s it. I’ll just be an accountant.”
Narrator: Kasanganay is not an accountant.
Kasangana🅠y, the rare fighter to win two times on Dana White’s Contender Series before receiving a UFC contract, won his proper promotional debut barely two weeks later.
His next fight, however, will be seen in ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚperpetuity in UFC highlight reels — for the wrong reason — as Kasanganay was on the receiving en🙈d of Joaquin Buckley’s incredible spinning back kick knockout that was the 2020 KO of the year.
“Credit to him. It wasn’t lucky,” Kasanganay says recalling Buckley’s masterpiece. “… I didn’t see that. I could have done better.”
Kasanganay split his next two fights as well with the UFC, then sat in a holding pattern after his four-fiꦦght contract was fulfilled.
With three months passing, Kasanganay communicated to his agent at the time that he wanted to fight elsewhere if the UFC wouldn’t get him a fight, and so he moved on, losing a split decision﷽ with Eagle FC in March 2022 for his third defeat in his last four outings.
As far as figh🍸ting goes⛦, Kasanganay was undeterred by the downturn in results and remained a consistent presence at the gym.
Outside the gym was harder.
Kasanganay had to give up another job he was doing tha𝓰t gave him an ultimatum: them or fighting.
With his income stream taking a h🔯it, and not being willing to move from Florida back in with his parents in North Carolina, Kasanganay elected to live out of his car for a time and claw his way out of his sit🦄uation.
“I was actually really at peace,” Kasanganay recalls of his mindset during the lean time. “I’m just like, ‘I’m gonna keep training, keep training, keep training.’ Begging, calling everybody out for a fight [in] the most respectful way that I can.”
Kasanganay got back on track with a win over fellow UFC veteran Jared Gooden with promotion XMMA last July, returning to his typical middleweight after dabbling with a brief challenginꦯg-to-make welterweight run his previous thr🌠ee fights.
Back on the winning track, Kasanganay found his wꦅay on PFL’s radar late last year for their 2023 Challenger🦩 Series — the promotion’s equivalent to the platform that got him his UFC deal.
The kicker: Kasanganay would b🥃e competing for the first time as an undersized light heavyweight🤪.
“When I first fought on the Challenger Series, Osama [Els🥂eady, my opponent,] grabbed me and I was like, ‘This is a little bit different than welterweight and middleweight.’ But then I got to settle in, and then✅ we got the finish. But I never really felt too much of a disadvantage.”
That TKO win in March earned his𝔉 way onto the PFL roster, but initially not into the yeaꦛr’s light heavyweight season.
After picking up an April decision victory over Cory Hendricks, Kasanganay became the unlikely beneficiary when a rash of positive tests for banned substances forced several season✨ participants out of the field.
In💝 his only r🦹egular-season bout, Kasanganay picked up a June second-round submission victory over Tim Caron to net the 29-year-old five points in the season standings, enough for the No. 3 seed in the semifinals in August.
Matched uౠp against 2022 runner-up Marthin Hamlet, Kasanganay secured the fourth finish of his five-fight win streak with a first-round KO to lock in Friday’s finals date with Silveira (12-1, 11 finishes).
“I just know I’m shorter than most light heavyweights,” said Kasanganay, who at 5-foot-11 is walking around at about 210 pounds for a smooth time making the 205-pound limit. “Marthin Hamlet was a massive guy, and he grabbed me, and I remember feeling his one arm wrapped around my whole body. … But when it came down to strength-wise and when it came down to feeling power, I felt like there are li༒ghtweights who hit harder than some of these guys.”
If Kasanganay emerges with the win over Silveira, he intends to make smart investments to set up his future, with the only planned treat for himself being, perhaps,ꦛ a new motorcycle.
And 𒈔if he does win, expect the same old Kasanganay: Not too high, not too low♏.