As it turns out, Alex “Easy” Polizzi isn’t easy at all, despite his nickname. That, according to PFL light heavyweight champ Impa Kasanganay, who is coming off a win over Polizzi in his first fight of the season, as he looks to clinch a playoff spot this Friday at PFL 5.
“He’s legit, and he’s not easy. He came to fight,” Kasanganay (16-4) told Cageside Press ahead of Friday’s event in Salt Lake City, Utah. “They say, ‘come back with your shield or on it.’ And he did that.”
That fight came at this year’s PFL 2 card in April, a night that saw every light heavyweight winner score a first-round finish. Five fighters currently have six points. Only four can make the playoffs. Ahead of his own fight, Kansanganay was blissfully unaware of what had transpired.
“I didn’t even know they finished them, I was so locked in. I was like ‘oh, nice.'” His coaches’ words, not to care about the finishes and to “fight your fight,” got his attention.
“Right when I was walking out, I realized ‘oh they got their finishes.’ But I was locked in, I was in the zone. I respect the guys, and it’s good, it shows why the division’s so elite. But I was looking at it like, I have a job to do. I don’t stress it, that’s why you get more than one fight in a season. Next fight, go get a first round finish again. Playoffs, get a first round finish, finals, get a first round finish. And that’s my focus, and that’s the expectation for myself and the guys that I train with.”
Heading into a fight with Jakob Nedoh with the playoffs on the line, all those finishes have ramped up the excitement, but it’s not necessarily all about the finishes.
“The excitement is, you get to fight the best of the best. PFL’s 205lb division is the best in the world, currently, because it has the most champions in that division per capita,” Kasanganay explained.
“I love fighting. That’s what effects me. Man, I get to fight the best of the best and take them out, solidify my spot now and in history. That’s a cool place to me. It’s a cool place for me to be.”
Watch our full interview with 2024 PFL 5’s Impa Kasanganay above.
