2023 light heavyweight champ Impa Kasanganay and Bellator MMA vet Alex Polizzi closed out the night at the 2024 PFL 2 card in Las Vegas, NV on Friday.
The second event of the PFL’s regular season featured lightweights and light heavyweights, including some exciting finishes from the likes of Antonio Carlos Junior, Rob Wilkinson, and Clay Collard, who survived an early knockdown to secure a TKO finish of one-time Bellator MMA lightweight champ Patricky Pitbull in the second round.
Kasanganay vs. Polizzi continued that trend, resulting in another big finish to close out the night.
After some brief exchanges early, it was returning champ Kasanganay landing a takedown just over a minute into the PFL 2 main event. Polizzi was right back up, a scene that repeated itself moments later with a second takedown attempt. From there, the pair went to the fence, with some rather spirited grappling and jockeying for position. This time, it ended up with Polizzi in on a takedown attempt, but he couldn’t land it; after reversing, Impa went after a front choke, then began lighting up Polizzi, knocking him down.
While he managed to work his way back up, Polizzi was soon rocked once more, and it appeared a stoppage was close with the ref moving in, at least until Polizzi dove in on a leg! No one would have questioned the fight being called there, but Polizzi, showing considerable heart, escaped up. Still, back on his feet, he wound up eating another barrage of strikes, leaving him wobbled once again. Despite not going down, Polizzi looked out of it and the ref finally had the good sense to wave things off.
With the big finish by Impa Kasanganay, all 205’ers on the PFL 2 card who came away with wins did so in the opening round. That’s six points for Impa, Rob Wilkinson, Josh Silveira, Antonio Carlos Junior, and Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov. Seems like it will be a close race at light heavyweight this year!
Official Result: Impa Kasanganay def. Alex Polizzi by TKO, Round 1, 3:29
