Gabriel Bonfim has won six of his last seven UFC outings. | Getty/UFC
After knocking out Randy Brown this past November for his sixth victory in seven fights, Gabriel Bonfim is preparing for the biggest challenge of his career to date.
Bonfim will face ex-welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in the UFC Fight Night 278 headliner on June 6 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
““He does the cage game very well,” Bonfim told Sherdog.com. “I believe he will try to grab me like [Nicolas] Dalby did, but I will get there very well prepared for this fight. Ian Garry showed the way. The idea is to move around, defend takedowns, use low kicks and connect with my hard hands to knock him out.”
The Brazilian believes that if Garry’s fight against Islam Makhachev is confirmed and he manages an impressive victory over Muhammad, he could get a title shot afterward.
“In my view, [Michael] Morales is ahead to get the fight with Islam,” Bonfim said. “But I think Garry has more weapons to beat the champion. And if he is confirmed as the next contender and wins, and I knock out Belal, I think I deserve to fight for the title.”
Brother Moving Up
Gabriel told Sherdog.com that his brother, Ismael Bonfim, who comes from a sequence of three losses in four fights in the lightweight division, will have his next fight in the welterweight division.
“Unfortunately, he is having difficulties making 155 pounds so the team decided, along with the UFC, that he will have his next fight in the welterweight division,” Gabriel said. “And I am sure that in this division he will turn things around. I can say this because sometimes he beats me more in training than the middleweights. So I bet that in the welterweight division he will return to winning. But UFC didn’t decide his opponent yet.”
