Johnny Eblen and Impa Kasanganay will rematch in the main event of Saturday night’s PFL Austin, just over two years after their first three-round decision, and Eblen feels his opponent only has a puncher’s chance in this interim title bout. Eblen was originally slated to face Costello van Steenis for the undisputed middleweight title on July 18, but Kasanganay stepped in for the interim strap.
“Since we both fought before, maybe he feels like he has an advantage starting out fast,” Eblen told MMA
Fighting, “so maybe he’ll try to start the fight off fast ‘cause he knows… I feel like he has an understanding that his only way that he can beat me is having to knock me out. He’s not going to beat me by decision. He’s not going to outgrapple me. I don’t even think he’s going to outstrike me; I think I’m going to outstrike him. I think the only thing that he feels like he has an advantage with is that he has power, but I’m not going to get hit like I did last time. I feel like he only has a puncher’s chance. And the way you negate that is fighting smart and fighting tactical, and that’s what I’m going to do this fight.”
Even though Eblen has called in sparring partners to mimic Kasanganay over at American Top Team, the main focus is more on evolving as a mixed martial artist than preparing for a specific foe. One of his main training partners for PFL Austin was reigning UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who flew to Florida to help him and will be in his corner in Texas.
“I was thrilled to work with Sean,” Eblen said. “Anytime I get a chance to train with Sean, it’s always great. Whether I’m helping him get ready for a fight or he’s helping me. We’re always leveling each other up, getting better. Great having him around. Really liked having him at ATT and training over in Florida. ‘Cause I think the past few times we’ve trained, I’ve went out to Vegas and helped him out. But this time around, he came out to Florida and showed up for me and helped me out. It’s great because he’s going to be my corner this weekend as well. It’s going to be fun, man. Excited.”
Strickland has been very complimentary of Eblen on social media as of late, predicting he would win the 185-pound belt in PFL and one day make his way to the UFC to fight him. For Eblen, hearing such praise from a popular fighter like Strickland helps grow his brand among casual fans who sometimes only pay attention to major UFC cards.
“I think Sean speaking highly of me definitely helps,” Eblen said. “I also have buddies and training partners of mine in the past that were big stars in the UFC. like Dustin Poirier and Jorge Masvidal. They spoke highly of me. Anytime you have a peer like that speak well about you, I think it does get through to some casuals and some people that aren’t heavy in the MMA scene, and definitely helps my brand out. But at the end of the day, I don’t really give a sh*t about that stuff. I care more about becoming a better fighter every day — and honestly, training with guys like Dustin, Jorge, and Sean, and just picking their brain and learning what I can from those individuals.”
Eblen is returning to the cage less than four months after getting back to the winning column with a one-sided victory over Bryan Battle, and would love to get a quick finish over Kasanganay, even though “that’s not the smartest way to fight” in a five-round contest.
“When I got my hands on [Battle] I kind of understood like, ‘I can finish this fight in this first round’ and slammed him like eight times and then got the body triangle and then got the rear-naked [choke], you know?” Eblen said. “Can’t just do that to everybody, though. I fought Impa before. I could do that to Impa, but it’s like, if I don’t put them away in the first, I got four more rounds of fight. It’s a five-round fight, and I’m going go out there like I usually do for title fights. Take my time, let the fight come to me, don’t try to force anything. That’s pretty much how I’m looking to fight this fight. No different than I would in any previous title fight.”
The next step is clear for whoever wins in the PFL Austin main event, and that is unifying the middleweight belts against van Steenis. The 185-pound champion has not disclosed which injury forced him off the card, and Eblen isn’t really convinced that was the main issue.
“I just don’t think the situation for him was ideal, so he kind of took any excuse that popped up and ran with it,” Eblen said. “That’s kind of what I think happened. When you sign a contract to fight somebody, you signed a contract. And as a man, my thought process is, okay, sh*t might happen between now and when the fight happens, but I’m gonna try to make the fight happen because I signed the contract. I know a lot of fighters don’t go in 100 percent when they go fight fight night, and that’s a part of it, you know? So part of me just feels like it just wasn’t an ideal situation for him, so he pulled out, and it is what it is.”
“Some people are different,” he continued. “Like my buddy Sean, literally separated his shoulder the week of the fight, but still fought. He didn’t pull out of that fight. Came too far. And also, that’s just an injury that you can work through that. It’s not ideal, but you can work through it. And I just feel like, if it was that serious of an injury, you might have to get surgery or something, you might have a lot longer of a layoff, but I feel like he just probably didn’t want to fight me in the States on a quick turnaround. And I think he tried to push it to the end of the year, like in October or something. I’m like, that’s weird. It doesn’t seem like it’s that big of an injury; you just want to move the fight because it’s something that you want to do. You don’t want to fight in the States. I felt like. But that’s just my thought process. I’m fully focused on Impa and getting this win July 18th. Man, f*cking ready to fight.”
“F*cking can’t wait to beat your ass,” Eblen said in a final message for van Steenis. “Gotta get through Impa first, but your time is coming.”
