Dana White: Impa Kasanganay can answer my questions on UFC debut against Maki Pitolo at Aug. 22 event
Impa Kasanganay just earned his UFC contract literally last night, and he already has a date and opponent for his UFC debut.
At Dana White’s Contender Series 28 last night, at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Kasangany (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) started off the show with a unanimous decision victory over Anthony Adams. The win was decisive enough for UFC president Dana White to award him a UFC contract and give him the golden opportunity to fight Maki Pitolo at the UFC’s upcoming event on Aug. 22 event, just 11 days later. “Tshilobo” defeated Kailan Hill a year prior, also on then Contender Series and earned an decision victory, but wasn’t awarded a contract. He has wins competing for LFA, King of the Cage, and Island Fights.
White hinted post fight they already had a fight for Kasanganay when he awarded the contract on the broadcast. Kasanganay had already agreed to compete on the UFC’s Aug. 22 event in Las Vegas before awarding him one of five contracts on the night. In the event’s post-fight press conference, White told members of the media that the two-time DWCS winner will face fellow series alum Maki Pitolo in his octagon debut.
Dana White said:
“He’s going to fight Pitolo.”
Pitolo (13-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC) competed most recently as Saturday at UFC on ESPN+ 32 when he dropped a first-round submission loss to England’s Darren Stewart. Pitolo signed to the UFC after a first-round TKO of Justin Sumter also on Dana White’s Contender Series 19 in July 2019. Pitolo and Kasangay expected to compete according to Dana. “Coconut Bombz” is 1-2 during his UFC stint, which includes a second-round TKO win over Charles Byrd at UFC 250 in May and suffering his two losses to Callan Potter at UFC 243 and Darren Stewart just last Saturday.
The UFC’s Aug. 22 event will be headlined by a bantamweight bout between Pedro Munhoz and Frankie Edgar.
The card looks like this:
Pedro Munhoz vs. Frankie Edgar – 135 lbs
Mariya Agapova vs. Shana Dobson – 125 lbs
Michelle Waterson vs. Angela Hill – 115 lbs
Ovince St. Preux vs. Shamil Gamzatov – 205 lbs
Mizuki Inoue vs. Amanda Lemos – 115 lbs
Takashi Sato vs. Daniel Rodriguez – 170 lbs
Mike Rodriguez vs. Marcin Prachnio – 205 lbs
Dwight Grant vs. Jared Gooden – 170 lbs
Jorge Gonzalez vs. Ike Villanueva – 205 lbs
Austin Hubbard vs. Joe Solecki – 155 lbs
Matt Semelsberger vs. Philip Rowe – 170 lbs
Mark Striegl vs. Timur Valiev – 135 lbs
Maki Pitolo vs. Impa Kasanganay – 185 lbs
