Injury transforms title tilt atop PFL Austin on July 18

An injury to middleweight champion Costello van Steenis has forced a reshuffling of the main event for PFL Austin on July 18 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Johnny Eblen (17-1) will now compete for the interim 185-pound title against Impa Kasanganay (20-6) instead of facing van Steenis.

Kasanganay, who won the PFL's light heavyweight tournament in 2023, moved down to middleweight last year to compete in the promotion's 185-pound bracket. Although he was eliminated from that tournament by Fabian Edwards, he has since strung together consecutive victories over Andrew Sanchez and Dalton Rosta at middleweight. The two fighters have met before: at the 2024 PFL vs. Bellator crossover event, Kasanganay challenged Eblen as the prior year's 205-pound tournament champion and suffered a controversial split-decision loss.

This rematch will carry added significance with an interim title on the line. The PFL Austin card also features bantamweight action between Sergio Pettis and Lewis McGrillen-Evans, lightweight competition between Sergio Cossio and Kolton Englund, and a women's flyweight bout pitting Andrea Vazquez against Aleksandra Savicheva.