Belal Muhammad aims to fend off Gabriel Bonfim at UFC Fight Night

Belal Muhammad must avoid losing a third consecutive fight at this stage of his career if he wishes to maintain the hopes of becoming a two-time champion.

The 37-year-old former welterweight titleholder will have the chance to snap his two-fight skid on Saturday when he headlines a UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas opposite ascending contender Gabriel Bonfim.

The five-round, 170-pound clash is Bonfim’s second straight Fight Night main event spot at the Meta Apex, and marks Muhammad’s fifth UFC main event in as many years.

Muhammad’s title reign wasn’t long-lived. He won the belt two summers ago when he went on the road and upset Leon Edwards in England, but then fell short in his first and only attempted title defence last May when he lost the belt to Jack Della Maddalena in Montreal.

A subsequent three-round decision loss to Ian Machado Garry in Qatar in November has resulted in Muhammad being on the first multi-fight losing streak of his mixed martial arts career.

The welterweight division has been going through a changing of the guard lately and this weekend’s featured contest is symbolic of that dynamic. 

There’s a new champion at the start of his 170-pound run and the top half of the contender rankings are filling up with fresh contenders, most of whom are in or just entering their prime fighting years.

Della Maddalena couldn’t secure a title defence either as he was defeated by former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who moved up to welterweight at UFC 322 and added a second title to his trophy case.

Current No. 1-ranked contender Machado Garry is the frontrunner to be Makhachev’s first challenger, although the UFC has not yet confirmed Makhachev’s next opponent.

Brazil’s Carlos Prates and Ecuador’s Michael Morales are ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, just behind Ireland’s Machado Garry and both are coming off statement wins.

Morales has knocked out three opponents in a row in the opening round, including Sean Brady at UFC 322. Prates has also stopped his past three opponents, flattening Geoff Neal, plus former champions Edwards and Della Maddalena. His most recent win saw him batter Della Maddalena in the Perth, Australia native’s backyard a month ago.

There’s also the injured Shavkat Rakhmonov, who has been removed from the rankings due to inactivity. The 19-0 fighter from Kazakhstan would otherwise be the top-ranked contender, but unfortunately, 2026 will be the second consecutive year Rakhmonov goes without competing as he continues to rehabilitate his surgically repaired knee.

Canada’s Mike Malott and Serbia’s Uros Medic have also worked their ways into the rankings and are now at the level where they’ve proven worthy of headlining Fight Night events just like Brazil’s Bonfim.

Former Bellator MMA welterweight champ Yaroslav Amosov of Ukraine is off to a terrific 2-0 start to his UFC career and appears to be a legitimate title threat. Amosov has risen to No. 10 after just two UFC appearances. That’s one spot ahead of Bonfim, who is also among this talented crop of rising welterweights.

The 28-year-old Bonfim, who’s mostly known for his dangerous jiu-jitsu skills, is coming off a beautiful knockout of Randy Brown in November that improved his professional record to 19-1. Prior to that win, Bonfim’s most notable victory was his narrow split decision win over past title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson last July.

The only setback of Bonfim’s fighting career thus far was a 2023 technical knockout loss to Nicolas Dalby that earned the pair a Fight of the Night bonus. Bonfim took the lessons from that loss and has since won four in a row and is 6-1 overall since debuting in the UFC in 2023, with four of those wins coming by stoppage.

Dalby is a respected veteran with skill and tenacity, yet he is four years older than Muhammad and has never reached the same level of success within the 170-pound division.

Muhammad is 14-3 with one no-contest in the UFC since 2017, with notable wins over Edwards, Sean Brady, Gilbert Burns, Demian Maia, Vicente Luque, plus aforementioned common Bonfim opponents Thompson and Brown.

Thirteen of Bonfim’s 19 pro wins have been via submission, including UFC finishes over Khaos Williams, Trevin Giles and Mounir Lazzez; however, Muhammad has never been submitted in 30 pro fights.

Saturday’s matchup could ultimately be determined by how Bonfim handles the pressure Muhammad puts on him the longer the fight goes. The younger fighter has only gone the distance twice in his career, while Muhammad is known for his strong cardio and durability. Muhammad has seen the scorecards in seven of his past eight fights, with four of them being five-rounders. 

Despite not having the momentum, plus the fact he’s at an age, height and reach disadvantage, Muhammad still enters the weekend as a slight betting favourite. According to oddsmakers at BetMGM, Muhammad is minus-125 chalk compared to Bonfim, who's a plus-105 underdog.

The big question is: will fight fans see a declining Muhammad, or is it possible the most recent outing from the Chicago native, who represents Palestine, wasn't reflective of how much gas Muhammad has left in the tank?

Muhammad told MMAFighting’s Damon Martin earlier this week that against Machado Garry, in addition to being on the receiving end of multiple eye pokes during the match, he also had to overcome vertigo during that period of time.

“I had vertigo after my weigh-in, and it was the first time I ever felt it,” he said. "I was literally head shaking the whole time.”

Muhammad added that his team considered withdrawing from the bout, but the fighter decided to give it a go, and it didn’t work out in his favour.

The No. 5-ranked Muhammad now represents the old guard at welterweight, all of whom are nearing the end of their MMA careers. 

He, along with fellow former champs Della Maddalena (No. 4), Edwards (No. 7) and Kamaru Usman (No. 8), have all struggled to find success after losing the belt. Muhammad and "JDM" have lost two in a row, Edwards three straight, and Usman is 1-3 dating back to 2021.

Add to that the fact that former title challenger Burns and ex-interim titleholder Colby Covington both recently announced their retirements from the UFC and – heck, “Wonderboy” is the oldest fighter on the UFC roster for goodness sakes – it speaks to how the UFC’s welterweight division is nearly unrecognizable compared to only a few years ago.

By the time Saturday’s main event concludes, we’ll either see another contender under the age of 30 break through to the upper tier of the division, or we’ll see Muhammad buck that trend and send a reminder to the division that he can still beat anyone on the right day.

Below is the projected bout order for the 12-bout card:

MAIN CARD

— Belal Muhammad vs. Gabriel Bonfim

— Brendan Allen vs. Edmen Shahbazyan

— Fares Ziam vs. Tom Nolan

— Bryce Mitchell vs. Santiago Luna

— Iwo Baraniewski vs. Junior Tafa

PRELIMINARY CARD

— Matt Schnell vs. Alessandro Costa

— Marcus McGhee vs. John Yannis

— Bruno Silva vs. Edgar Chairez

— Priscila Cachoeira vs. Chelsea Chandler

— Jordan Leavitt vs. Joanderson Brito

— Jeisla Chaves vs. Yuneisy Duben

— Ketlen Souza vs. Ariane Carnelossi