Gabriel Bonfim sweeps scorecards on Belal Muhammad at UFC Fight Night

Gabriel Bonfim entered his second UFC main event with a 19-1 pro record, riding high off a highlight-reel knockout, yet he had never faced anyone as accomplished or as talented as Belal Muhammad.

That didn’t matter on Saturday at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas during his featured UFC Fight Night matchup with the former welterweight titleholder, though, as Bonfim earned the biggest win of his career.

Bonfim ended up taking all five rounds on all three judges’ scorecards to get the unanimous decision victory.

Despite Muhammad having a strong wrestling base and Bonfim possessing standout jiu-jitsu skills, the pair traded strikes throughout the 25-minute scrap.

It was only the third time Bonfim has gone the distance in his mixed martial arts career, while Muhammad has seen the scorecards in eight of his past nine fights, with five of them being five-rounders. 

The 28-year-old from Brazil entered the weekend ranked No. 11 in the 170-pound division but he will soon join the likes of fellow red-hot contenders Ian Machado Garry (No. 1), Carlos Prates (No. 2) and Michael Morales (No. 3) in the top five.

Muhammad, 37, was a UFC champion merely 13 months ago and entered this matchup ranked No. 5, but he will continue to slide down the rankings after losing his third consecutive fight.

The Chicago native became champion in 2024 when he defeated then-champ Leon Edwards, but went 0-2 in 2025 by losing the belt to Jack Della Maddalena via five rounds in May, then dropping a three-round decision to Machado Garry in November.

Bonfim called out Della Maddalena on Saturday and challenged the Aussie to a fight since Della Maddalena is currently ranked one spot ahead of Muhammad and is another former champion Bonfim wants on his record.

Islam Makhachev is the current welterweight champion but has yet to defend the title. His next opponent has not yet been confirmed.

Also on Saturday's card, No. 4-ranked middleweight contender Brendan Allen took a risk in accepting a matchup with unranked Edmen Shahbazyan, but it ultimately paid off.

Allen got his hand raised after 15 minutes of trading strikes with Shahbazyan to extend his winning streak to three. He was coming off a stoppage win over Reinier de Ridder in October and a decision over Marvin Vettori last July.

Tom Nolan picked up the biggest win of his career and pulled off a noteworthy upset in the lightweight division.

The 26-year-old from Australia won two out of three rounds on all scorecards to earn a unanimous decision over France’s Fares Ziam, who entered the weekend ranked No. 14 at 155 pounds. 

Ziam, 29, had won six in a row before facing Nolan and had won the final round on all three judges’ scorecards, but it was too little too late, with Nolan taking the first two rounds.

In the bantamweight division, Bryce Mitchell became the first fighter to defeat touted 21-year-old prospect Santiago Luna of Mexico, finding a submission in the waning seconds of the final round.

The 31-year-old American used his veteran savvy and slick top game to control the majority of the 135-pound contest, but instead of coasting to a decision win, he worked to set up a fight-ending arm-triangle choke late in Round 3 to improve to 2-0 since dropping down from 145 pounds last year.

Luna accepted the matchup on less than two weeks’ notice, and Mitchell gave credit and encouragement to his young opponent during his post-fight interview. This was Mitchell’s first submission victory since his 2019 twister of Matt Sayles.

Iwo Baraniewski improved to 9-0 and kept his 100 per cent first-round finishing rate intact. The win was Baraniewski’s seventh by KO/TKO and his fourth win in a row that didn’t even last 90 seconds.

The Polish light-heavyweight prospect made quick work of Junior Tafa, hurting his Australian opponent with a series of low leg kicks before swarming Tafa with a flurry of ground strikes. Tafa winced in pain because of his left leg, and the bout was called off after just 1:25 of the opening round.

Tafa fell to 7-6 in MMA and is 3-6 in nine UFC appearances. He took this fight on short notice and replaced Billy Elekana after coming off a knockout win just over a month ago.

The preliminary card saw five finishes, including a stretch of three consecutive first-round submission results.

Matt Schnell kept fighting after getting rocked by Alessandro Costa in the featured prelim, but referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight despite Schnell’s protest.

Edgar Chairez should find himself ranked at flyweight next week after locking up a rear-naked choke on No. 15-ranked Bruno Silva moments after his second knockdown of the opening round.

Chelsea Chandler used an armbar to tap fellow women’s bantamweight competitor Priscila Cachoeira, and Joanderson Brito made Jordan Leavitt quit with a rear-naked choke.

With six first-round finishes out of the dozen matchups, UFC Fight Night: Muhammad vs. Bonfim was one additional first-round finish away from tying the modern era record for first-round stoppages.

Saturday’s event was the sixth card at the Meta Apex so far in 2026 and the organization’s final event before heading to the White House for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14.