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.”