{"id":38666,"date":"2026-06-06T23:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Gabriel-Bonfim-handles-exchampion-Belal-Muhammad-in-UFC-Vegas-118-main-event-201447"},"modified":"2026-06-06T23:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:57:12","slug":"gabriel-bonfim-handles-ex-champion-belal-muhammad-in-ufc-vegas-118-main-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/gabriel-bonfim-handles-ex-champion-belal-muhammad-in-ufc-vegas-118-main-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabriel Bonfim handles ex-champion Belal Muhammad in UFC Vegas 118 main event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Gabriel
\nBonfim<\/a> did not request entry to the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> welterweight elite. He demanded
\nit.<\/p>\n

A potent jab and devastating leg kicks carried the Dana White\u2019s
\nContender Series graduate to a unanimous decision over Belal
\nMuhammad<\/a> in the
\nUFC Fight Night 278<\/a> headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in
\nLas Vegas. All three judges turned in 50-45 scorecards for Bonfim
\n(20-1, 7-1 UFC), who has emerged as a genuine threat at 170
\npounds.<\/p>\n

Muhammad (24-6, 15-6) was beaten to the punch over and over again.
\nBonfim bloodied the bridge of the VFS Academy cornerstone\u2019s nose
\nwith repeated jabs, controlled the real estate from the center of
\nthe cage and forced the former champion onto his back foot. He did
\nhis best work in Round 3, where he snapped back Muhammad\u2019s head
\nwith a vicious three-two and later sent his mouthpiece flying with
\na mean right cross. Bonfim dialed down his aggression across the
\nfinal 10 minutes but did more than enough to maintain his lead, all
\nwhile avoiding any Hail Mary shots from his adversary.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Brendan
\nAllen<\/a> stood his ground at 185 pounds and laid claim to a
\nunanimous decision over Edmen
\nShahbazyan<\/a> in their three-round middleweight co-main event.
\nAllen (27-7, 15-4 UFC) swept the scorecards with 30-27, 30-27 and
\n29-28 marks from the assigned judiciary.<\/p>\n

<\/center>
\n
Shahbazyan (16-6, 9-6 UFC) was a game underdog. The Xtreme Couture
\nstandout pestered Allen with his jab, body-head combinations and
\noccasional leg kicks throughout the 15-minute encounter. Allen
\nlanded more of the consequential strikes, routinely fired right
\nhands over the top, mixed in kicks and slashed away with
\nclose-range elbow strikes, one of which opened a gnarly cut near
\nhis opponent\u2019s left eye. His offensive variety was a
\ndifferentiator.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Allen has won three fights in a row.<\/p>\n

Deeper into the draw, Team Compton Training Centre export Tom Nolan<\/a>
\nsprang a mild upset and perhaps secured a place for himself in the
\nTop 15 with a unanimous decision over Fares Ziam<\/a>
\nin their three-round lightweight showcase. All three cageside
\njudges scored it the same: 29-28 for Nolan (11-1, 5-1 UFC).<\/p>\n

Ziam (18-5, 8-3 UFC) seemed to be a step behind the Aussie for much
\nof the match. Nolan kept the Frenchman at bay with a heavy dose of
\nkicks, held his own in the clinch, completed multiple takedowns and
\npaired intermittent ground-and-pound with suffocating top control.
\nZiam rallied in the third round, where he executed two takedowns of
\nhis own and even climbed to full mount at one point. However, the
\nfinish the onetime Lyon Fighting Championship titleholder sought
\nnever materialized.<\/p>\n

Nolan, 26, finds himself on a five-fight winning streak.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Barata MMA rep Bryce
\nMitchell<\/a> put away the previously unbeaten Santiago
\nLuna<\/a> with an arm-triangle choke late in the third round of
\ntheir bantamweight attraction. A short-notice substitution for
\nVictor
\nHenry<\/a>, Luna (8-1, 2-1 UFC)
\nconceded defeat 4:52 into Round 3<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/center>
\n
The 31-year-old Mitchell (19-3, 10-3 UFC) leaned on takedowns and
\nscrambles, moved from one dominant position to the next and slowly
\nbut surely broke the prospect\u2019s spirit. He lured Luna into his
\nguard in the third round, extricated himself from an attempted
\nbrabo choke and assumed top position. Mitchell ultimately scrambled
\nto the back, threatened with a face crank and floated back to full
\nmount. From there, he framed the arm-triangle, cleared the legs and
\nlet his squeeze to the rest.<\/p>\n

Mitchell has now secured more than half (10) of his 19 career
\nvictories via submission.<\/p>\n

Finally, burgeoning Aligatores Fight Club star Iwo
\nBaraniewski<\/a> dismissed Junior Tafa<\/a>
\nwith a vicious low kick and follow-up punches in the first round of
\ntheir light heavyweight appetizer. A late-notice fill-in for
\nBilly
\nElekana<\/a>, Tafa (7-6, 3-6 UFC) succumbed to blows 1:25 into Round
\n1.<\/p>\n

Baraniewski (9-0, 3-0 UFC) targeted his counterpart\u2019s lower
\nextremities from the outset, engaged him in a brief clinch and
\ndisengaged. He then blasted Tafa\u2019s lead calf with a kick that spun
\naround \u201cThe Juggernaut\u201d and deposited him on the canvas.
\nBaraniewski stepped forward, hovered above the shelled-up Kiwi and
\nlet fly with standing-to-ground punches to prompt the stoppage.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Baraniewski has finished all nine of his opponents
\ninside one round.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading \u00bb<\/strong>
\nUFC Vegas 118 Prelims: Edgar Chairez, Chelsea Chandler, Joanderson
\nBrito net submissions<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Bonfim did not request entry to the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight elite. He demanded it. A potent jab and devastating leg kicks carried the Dana White\u2019s Contender Series graduate to a unanimous decision over Belal Muhammad in the UFC Fight Night 278 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}