Whenever a fighter wins the PFL global season, there is intrigue about how they will spend their $1million prize.
Generally, the champions have been fighting their whole careers for a payday of that magnitude, and fans imagine them rewarding themselves with an expensive car or a big house. But for Impa Kasanganay, he has reinvested in the future.
The former UFC star has bought a gym in his native Florida, where he teaches youngsters and untrained adults self-defence. He named it ‘Impa’s Refinery’, and offers discounted rates to veterans, first responders, teachers, nurses, and other essential workers.
Impa Kasanganay’s big purchase with $1million PFL win was a gym to train the next generation
Speaking exclusively with Bloody Elbow ahead of his return to the PFL cage against Jakob Nedoh on Friday night in Salt Lake City, Kasanganay explained why he decided to forego extravagant purchases with his winnings. Instead, he opted to buy a gym where he trains young athletes in the martial arts.
“I’m going to have a kids programme all the way to early pros,” he said. “We’ll offer private lessons to business professionals and then just help athletes become better athletes through fighting. I’ve always had clients at other gyms or been contracted out but this is my first physical location.
“I’m very grateful for it, this is the biggest purchase since I won the million. There’s a good book called The Richest Man in Babylon that my mentor Jonathon told me to read and other books like Principles by Ray Dalio about making that money work for itself.
“The copper works for the gold and then it works for itself and then grows in a compound interest. I’ve studied accounting and finance, I’m focused on business school right now and next I’ll be getting my MBA virtually or ideally going to the physical campus too depending on my schedule.”
Impa Kasanganay details his financial strategy after winning $1million PFL tournament
For all fighters that earn a massive payout such as the PFL tournament, life changes forever. But with his background that has led him to enrolling in Harvard Business School this year, he has learned how to make a large amount of money such as the $1million work for itself and grow exponentially.
“I look at it like a lot of fighters try to do something at the end of their career, they don’t have an extra income stream coming in,” he explained. “You could spend $1million and waste your money as a fighter, and struggle and that’s okay.
“Or you could take that money and invest in different things. Maybe you even lose $100,000, but then you’ve put $600,000 somewhere else and turned that into $750,000 or as much as a couple of million. You might even hit big and make more and then you have a consistent stream of income.
“You do that at a young age when you have the energy and the flexibility to do it, that’s how I look at it. I have a great team, my focus is just staying organised and they help me so much. I have a great media team and I’m entering into a film festival next year.
“There’s so many cool things coming up and my philosophy is that if you’re interested in something, let nobody run your life but yourself. Trust God and do that and before you know it people are asking how you did it.”
Impa Kasanganay is teaching the next generation in his new Florida gym
A key part of the programme at Kasanganay’s gym in Florida will be outside of the ring, teaching youngsters fundamentals that will help them with their lives. While the exercise is a key part, he also plans to hold events that let them know necessary details about taxes and other accounting needs.
“I can teach others and the ones who don’t want to learn it’s okay we can move forward,” the ex-UFC star mused. “I want to teach these kids and anyone who is interested the fundamentals of accounting and business so they can understand how taxes work and stuff.
“People go through school their whole life and never learn basic things that people who study accounting get to learn. That should be public knowledge, so I’m going to build a mini library at the gym and kids can get books to read.
“Anything that I know has helped me become a better fighter and expedite the process of starting fighting at 24 and becoming a world champion at 29, I want to share that. I don’t want to be a gatekeeper.
“I want to be the person who shares it and helps people do that themselves. That’s the concept of refinery, it’s based on two codes from Bible verses 14-23.
“One is ‘All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.’ The other is ‘How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?’ That’s what it is. Every client or person I meet in life has that goal and the person they’re going to become comes by going through that fire.”
- REPEAT OR REVENGE: Fabian Edwards books Bellator title rematch with Johnny Eblen