Every front has a back, every highlight reel has the guy who lost. At UFC on ESPN+ 37 on Saturday night, Joaquin “New Mansa” Buckley earned arguably the best KO in UFC history over the formerly undefeated Congolese-American Impa “Tshilobo” Kasanganay.
After the fight, Kasanganay released a message on his social network:
God bless you. It was an honor to step in the Octagon with you and to do what I love. Safe travels to you and your team. Beautiful shot. Way to fight.
I will improve.
To the UFC and all staff members thank you for making fight Island a possibility. You are a top-notch organization. I know the best is yet to come. God is great and He has never failed me. Never will. He’s so faithful. I look forward to the opportunity to getting back into the Octagon. Back to work. God bless you. Thank you to my Dad such a blessing to have you in my corner, Diego Costa and Bryan Barberena for cornering you had me prepared. Thank you so to my Gym-O tribe for working with me. You all have a special place in my heart. The best is yet to come.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
Romans 8:18 NLT
Love Tshilobo
The Luba people, also called Baluba, number approximately 6,000,000, and live throughout much of south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kasanganay’s “Tshilobo” ring name means hero, brave, valiant, brave person. It’s fitting.
Mixed martial arts is built on moments like Kasanganay getting knocked out. Back in 2008, former UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta explained to The Atlantic magazine that it’s the very heart of the sport’s appeal.
“‘The holy f***ing s*** factor.’ It happens at every fight,” said Fertitta. “At least one or two times in every UFC show, whether you say it out loud or you say it to yourself, you go, ‘holy s*** did that just happen?’ I mean, you might see somebody do a flip, get kicked in the head, get knocked out with a punch. At some point, you’re going ‘whoah, did that just happen? Did I really just see that?’ That’s the nucleus of what our product is.”
Fertitta is right, highlights are the heart of the sport. And tremendous gentlemen like Impa “Tshilobo” Kasanganay are too.
