Brendan Loughnane Returns to Form at PFL Chicago
PFL 3: 2024 Regular Season at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago saw Brendan Loughnane return to the win column with a co-main event stoppage victory.
The 2022 featherweight tournament champion finished Bellator veteran Pedro Carvalho via TKO at 1:26 in the first round. After the fight, Loughnane reflected on his journey back to the cage following a first round knockout loss to the future 2023 PFL Tournament Champion Jesus Pinedo in June of 2023.
“I had to battle a lot of my own demons to get back in there,” Loughnane said. “Imagine, right? I worked my whole life to get a belt, and then I got financially free with the money, and then I got knocked out. So it’s like, you have to kind of gauge what you’re doing it for at that point.”
The Manchester native found the stoppage following a right straight which dropped Carvalho. Loughnane swarmed for the finish, and referee Kevin MacDonald stopped the fight arguably a moment early, which the fans and Carvalho protested.
This was Loughnane’s first fight since PFL acquired rival promotion Bellator and its roster of fighters. Carvalho was among them, and previously challenged for the Bellator featherweight belt against long-standing champion Patrício ‘Pitbull’ Freire in 2020.
Loughnane was on a 5-fight win streak before losing to Pinedo, including the million dollar tournament victory. The loss was a hit to his confidence and took momentum from his career.
“I wanted to do it to prove to everyone here and prove to myself that you can come back from a knockout,” Loughnane said. “You can come back from adversity. And I’m so happy that I did, I’m so happy that I went back to training, and I’ll follow my dream further.”
At age 34, Loughnane is no longer a young featherweight, but feels he’s only now hitting his prime. “Guess what? We’re only at chapter two or three,” he said. “Brendan’s got absolutely loads of miles in the tank, and I can’t wait to show yous what’s next.”
In the main event, undefeated welterweight Magomed Umalatov took home a unanimous decision victory over former Bellator champion Andrey Koreshkov.
Earlier in the night, welterweight Shamil Musaev made an emphatic PFL debut with a TKO win over former Bellator champion Logan Storley. Featherweight Gabriel Braga found a dramatic one-punch knockout over Justin Gonzales, and dedicated his victory to his recently-killed father and coach.
On the preliminary card, Timur Khizriev defeated veteran Brett Johns, and former UFC featherweight Don Madge secured a standing rear naked choke. Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira and Glover Teixeira made an appearance to corner Laureano Staropoli, less than a week removed from Pereira’s title defense at UFC 300.
The PFL Regular Season will continue on June 13 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, where the heavyweight and women’s flyweight divisions will take center stage.
TWO CHAMPIONS FIGHT FOR MORE THAN JUST A TITLE
WASHINGTON, D.C.- At the PFL (Professional Fighters League) 10 Championships this past weekend, Impa Kasanganay took home $1 million dollars and a championship title. Another fighter, Kayla Harrison, didn’t take home a million dollars, but walked away a victor of a battle she thinks is far more important. However, their wins meant more than just securing a title. Kasanganay, who once faced homelessness, found solace on a farm, and Harrison, a survivor of sexual assault, not only emerged as champions but individuals who confronted challenges beyond the confines of the smart cage.
Impa Kasanganay: From Farm Life to PFL Glory
In the quiet corners of Okeechobee, Florida, a young Impa Kasanganay found solace in the simplicity of farm life. Amidst pythons, cows, sheep, and peacocks, he discovered an unlikely sanctuary from the storms life would throw at him.
Born to Congolese immigrants who sought a better life, Impa says his parents worked relentlessly; his mother worked marathon nursing shifts to support his dreams. The farm became not just a backdrop but a symbol of resilience. As he fed chickens and tended to cattle, little did he know that this rustic haven would shape the warrior spirit within.
His journey into the world of sports came late, a leap of faith into American football during his senior year of high school. His parents urged him to focus more on academics and saw Impa attending an Art School for Music, dreaming of becoming a musician. But fate had other plans.
Football earned him a scholarship at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, where he earned three degrees in Business Administration, Accounting, and Finance.
Yet, Impa’s story was not confined to classrooms or football fields. It nudged him towards the octagon in 2017, an uncharted territory where he would later find triumph and heartache.
His brutal knockout loss to Joaquin Buckley redefined his entire career, later ultimately leading him to homelessness. The Congolese Cowboy found a new home at Sanford MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) in Florida. The gym actually became his home as he began living in his car in the parking lot.
When questioned about his living situation, he responded with a quiet resolve: “No, you got yourself in this situation; you’ve got to get yourself out of it.” Each night spent under the stars served as a testament that transformed challenges into stepping stones towards success.
At the PFL 10 World Championships this past weekend, he earned his first PFL light heavyweight championship title and the coveted $1 million dollars with a unanimous decision over Joshua Silveira.
From humble beginnings to the PFL, where he remains undefeated, Kasanganay’s story mirrors the twists of a compelling novel. As he enters the smart cage, he carries not just the weight of his dreams but the hopes of a family and the echoes of a farm that silently nurtured a champion.
Kayla Harrison: Triumph Over Trauma
In the quiet corners of judo gyms, there lies the indomitable spirit of a woman who refused to be defined by her scars- from the painful echoes of her early years to the grandeur of PFL glory.
Kayla, a two-time Judo Olympic gold medalist, is no stranger to the shadows that linger in the corners of silence. A victim of abuse by her judo instructor from the age of 13 to 16, she has become an advocate for sexual assault awareness. “Sexual abuse is awful, and I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. No amount of jail time can fix the scars these survivors will carry forever.”
Kayla’s early days are cloaked in shadows, a painful past that could’ve swallowed her whole. But instead, she turned her pain into power. Picture Kayla on the mat; each throw, each grapple, a silent scream against the darkness that threatened to define her. Guided by Coach Jimmy Pedro, she transformed vulnerability into a quiet strength that spoke louder than her past.
In 2012, the world watched as Kayla stood atop the Olympic podium, adorned with a gold medal, a defiant declaration that her past wouldn’t dictate her future. Transitioning to mixed martial arts was a leap into uncertainty. The cage replaced the familiar judo mat, and titles became more than accolades— they helped her forge a brand new identity.
PFL 10 Championships marked the peak of Kayla’s MMA career. Against Aspen Ladd, every move she made was a dance with her past. The belt around her waist wasn’t just a symbol of victory; it was a crown of redemption, a testament to the triumph of spirit over suffering.
She stands not just as an athlete but as a symbol of unbroken strength, turning the page from victim to survivor and, now, a beacon for change.
At that moment, Kayla’s journey reached its pinnacle under the bright lights. It wasn’t just about winning; it was about overcoming, about showing that scars could become badges of resilience and proof that no darkness is too deep for a determined heart to conquer.
Kayla’s story in the cage and life whispers, “You are stronger than your scars.”
UFC 166 Raises the Bar
SYRACUSE (Newhouse Sports Media Center) — Last Saturday’s UFC 166 in Houston’s sold out Toyota Center was a bloody victory for fan, fighter, and promotion.
UFC president Dana White hailed the event as the best card in UFC history, with hard knockouts and sustained battles between heavy hitters. Color commentator Joe Rogan agreed, citing the brawl between welterweights Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez as the best fight he’d ever seen. Twitter exploded with praise from sports writers.
“Unbelievable,” ESPN’s Brett Okamoto Tweeted after the Melendez-Sanchez fight . “I’d applaud if it wasn’t drilled into my whole journalistic career that I can’t. I may have clapped once.” Okamoto’s fellow ESPN writer Josh Gross Tweeted, “That fight surpassed every expectation I had, and I talked it up like crazy. Kudos warriors.”
Both fighters won $60,000 bonuses for the Fight of the Night, and the heavyweight division saw a definitive victory for reigning champion Cain Velasquez over Junior dos Santos in their third title fight.
“Without a doubt the greatest night of fights we have ever had,” White told Rogan in a post-event media recap. “From the first fight of the night, right up to the Heavyweight Championship, it’s the best fight card we have ever had.”
Melendez-Sanchez
The match between Melendez and Sanchez started with a bang and gained intensity for the full three rounds. An elbow from Melendez split a gash into Sanchez’s left eyebrow in the first round. Sanchez shrugged the cut off even as his face turned into a bloody mask and the two cage side doctors stopped the fight repeatedly to examine him. Sanchez took the worse end of a standup beating for the first two rounds and came alive in the third looking for a knockout victory to avoid a loss by decision.
In the end of the third round, each fighter threw wild, powerful punch combinations at the other, abandoning defense and trading blows that landed hard and flush. Sanchez’s eyebrow sagged open three inches, but taunted Melendez to hit him harder. Throughout the fight, Melendez dominated and won a unanimous decision, but Sanchez’s grit nearly outshined his defeat. The accurate striking plus whatever gravel in Sanchez’s gut made the fight a candidate for Best Fight of the Year.
“It was a battle and exactly what I expected from him as an opponent,” Melendez said in the post fight interview with Joe Rogan. “He didn’t go down at all.”
In the main event, a rubber match between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and former champion Junior dos Santos ended with a TKO in the fifth and final round. Velasquez pressed the attack throughout the fight. Rather than trade blows with dos Santos, whose boxing prowess knocked Velasquez out two fights past, the champ bulled dos Santos into the cage and held him in a clinch, landing blows at will. Dos Santos endured four rounds of the same brutality before a sharp elbow to the left side of his face shattered his remaining resolve. He sank to his knees, covered his head against the onslaught, and referee Dean Herb stopped the fight.
“He beat me up,” said dos Santos. “What can I say?”
UFC president Dana White said the next logical title defense for Velasquez will be against Fabricio Werdum, the number three ranked UFC heavyweight.
Cormier-Nelson
A slugfest between top ten ranked heavyweights Daniel Cormier and Roy Nelson ended with a victory for Cormier. Cormier controlled the fight all three rounds, outwrestling Nelson and landing crisp punches and leg kicks. He was unable to hurt the famously punishment immune Nelson, but won a unanimous decision.
Gonzaga-Dodson
Gabriel Gonzaga and John Dodson won knockouts over their opponents, with a Knockout of the Night bonus to Dodson. Heavyweight Gonzaga crashed into Shawn Jordan’s chin with a short right hand and ended the fight at 1:33 seconds in the first round, tying seventh ranked Frank Mir for the most opponents finished before the final bell in the heavyweight division at 11. Dodson’s hand speed won the match against Darrell Montague, knocking him out with a straight left to the chin.
The storylines of the main and co-main heavyweight fights bring exciting implications for the UFC’s least competitive division. Daniel Cormier, ranked number two, has promised to move down to the light heavyweight division and challenge champion Jon Jones, a matchup that could possibly challenge the dominant Jones more than the current light heavyweight crop. Cormier trains with Cain Velasquez and says he has no interest in fighting him, but the bankability of a teammate fight might tempt the UFC to keep him in contention in his current weight.
Meanwhile, Junior do Santos, though decisively beaten twice by Velasquez, says he wants another match. The UFC has never had two fighters face each other more than three times. A historic four-fight series between two fighters who stand far above the competition would draw immense fan attention.