Impa Kasanganay will make the move down to welterweight for an April 10th UFC bout against Sasha Palatnikov, per a report from Nolan King and Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie.
The matchup will take place on a UFC “Fight Night” card that does not have a confirmed location at the moment.
Kasanganay took his first loss as a pro in October, being on the receiving end of a viral spinning back kick knockout from Joaquin Buckley. Before then, the middleweight picked up a win on “Dana White’s Contender Series” and defeated Maki Pitolo via decision in his UFC debut in 2020.
Kasanganay’s next bout will be his first as a pro at welterweight.
Palatnikov takes the booking after winning a back-and-forth UFC debut last year. The former UAE Warriors fighter last competed in November, where he had a comeback performance against Louis Cosce which culminated in a third-round stoppage win.
Palatnikov’s UFC debut awarded him a “Fight of the Night” performance for UFC 255.
UFC currently has the plan to have middleweights Darren Till and Marvin Vettori compete in the main event of their April 10th card. Here is how the lineup looks now.
Bout 11: Darren Till (18-3-1) vs. Marvin Vettori (16-3-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 10: Nina Ansaroff (10-6) vs. Mackenzie Dern (10-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 9: Yorgan De Castro (6-2) vs. Jarjis Danho (5-1-1) (Heavyweight)
Bout 8: John Makdessi (17-7) vs. Ignacio Bahamondes (11-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 7: Norma Dumont (5-1) vs. Bea Malecki (2-0) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Zak Cummings (24-7) vs. Sam Alvey (33-14-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Luis Saldana (14-6) vs. Jordan Griffin (18-8) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Arnold Allen (16-1) vs. Sodiq Yusuff (11-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Jack Shore (13-0) vs. Hunter Azure (9-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Mike Perry (14-7) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (13-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 1: Impa Kasanganay (8-1) vs. Sasha Palatnikov (6-2) (Welterweight)
Knockdown News 