{"id":300466,"date":"2023-11-25T15:26:16","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T15:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=300466"},"modified":"2023-11-25T15:26:16","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T15:26:16","slug":"former-homeless-fighter-captures-pfl-title-and-1million-prize-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/mma\/former-homeless-fighter-captures-pfl-title-and-1million-prize-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Former homeless fighter captures PFL title and $1million prize money"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Former homeless fighter captures PFL title and whopping $1million prize money&#8230; four years after Dana White said ex-UFC contender would become a world champion<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A former homeless fighter has captured the PFL light-heavyweight title<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It comes four years after Dana White predicted him to become a champion\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why Anthony Joshua turned down Deontay Wilder&#8217;s \u00a340million offer &#8211; The Hook\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A former homeless fighter struck gold on Friday night with the Professional Fighters League, two years after being released by the UFC.<\/p>\n<p>The ex-UFC middleweight contender, who now competes at light-heavyweight, earned himself a shot in MMA&#8217;s biggest promotion after defeating\u00a0Anthony Adams on the\u00a0Dana White&#8217;s Contender Series back in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>However, after going 2-2 in the promotion, the 29-year-old was released. He would go on to compete under the\u00a0Eagle FC and\u00a0XMMA banner before joining the PFL earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>The American Mixed Martial Artist, who suffered a brutal knockout to\u00a0Joaquin Buckley during his UFC stint, has finally captured a world title.<\/p>\n<p>During Dana White&#8217;s Contender Series in 2019, the UFC chief lauded the then 25-yer-old as a &#8216;stud athlete,&#8217; saying: &#8216;I&#8217;m telling you right now, whatever organisation out there [that] signs this kid, this kid is the future. I believe that this kid is going to be top five and possibly a world champ someday.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/10\/78223483-12789901-image-a-2_1700907416949.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A former homeless fighter\u00a0captured PFL title and whopping $1million prize money on Friday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/10\/78223481-12789901-image-a-3_1700907446968.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Impa Kasanganay (right) defeated\u00a0Josh Silveira to claim the PFL light-heavyweight title<\/p>\n<p>Impa\u00a0Kasanganay, who earned his spot in the 2023\u00a0PFL light-heavyweight season on the Challenger Series earlier in the year, captured the 205lbs title with a dominant unanimous decision victory over\u00a0Josh Silveira last night.<\/p>\n<p>Kasanganay, who also pocketed a\u00a0seven-figure payday,\u00a0extended his unbeaten run to six fights.<\/p>\n<p>The win over\u00a0Silveira will almost certainly change &#8216;Tshilobo&#8217;s&#8217; life forever. Just a year ago, the 29-year-old was homeless and living in his car while parked up outside his gym in Miami &#8211; but is now a millionaire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Sun Sport, the American said:\u00a0\u00a0&#8216;It&#8217;s funny how I look back a year ago, I&#8217;m like, &#8216;Life&#8217;s a bit different!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Every time I walk past that parking spot, I&#8217;m like, &#8216;Man, now I&#8217;m going home, I&#8217;ve got a house with a garage.&#8221;&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Kasanganay, who started training in MMA in 2017, reveals he worked as a personal trainer,\u00a0at a restaurant and back in finance, however, it wasn&#8217;t enough to keep him financially stable.\u00a0<span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0&#8216;I didn&#8217;t complain, I didn&#8217;t tell anybody,&#8217; he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;m pretty sure my team-mates would have let me in but I was like, &#8216;No, you got yourself in this situation, you&#8217;ve got to get yourself out of it.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/10\/78223553-12789901-image-a-7_1700907611227.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>UFC President Dana White said four years ago that the American would become a champion<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/10\/78223525-12789901-image-a-6_1700907549402.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The 29-year-old went 2-2 in the UFC before being released &#8211; but is now a world champion<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/10\/78223479-12789901-image-a-4_1700907484232.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Following the win in Washington,\u00a0Kasanganay is now hoping to buy his own farm\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;One day Henri was in the gym and he was like, &#8216;Hey, are you sleeping in your car? Because security said the car is here a lot and it could be one of the fighters.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Funnily enough, as challenging as sleeping in a car was, it was a peaceful time, too.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The American now has a house in Florida in what has been a great year for the PFL star.<\/p>\n<p>He also claims that it his dream to own a farm. With the life-changing win over\u00a0Silveira and the $1m (\u00a3800,000) prize money, it&#8217;s fair to say the 29-year-old can now afford to buy a ranch.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/10\/78222911-12789901-image-a-5_1700907496559.jpg\" height=\"183\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/mma\/article-12789901\/Former-homeless-fighter-PFL-title-1million.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former homeless fighter captures PFL title and whopping $1million prize money&#8230; four years after Dana White said ex-UFC contender would <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former homeless fighter captures PFL title and $1million prize money - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/mma\/former-homeless-fighter-captures-pfl-title-and-1million-prize-money\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former homeless fighter captures PFL title and $1million prize money - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former homeless fighter captures PFL title and whopping $1million prize money&#8230; 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