Gabriel Bonfim rode a jiu-jitsu advantage to take all five rounds on every scorecard, handing Belal Muhammad his third straight UFC loss at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
When the five-round clock hit zero at Meta Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. Gabriel Bonfim didn’t just win his featured UFC Fight Night main event against Belal Muhammad—he won it the way big nights demand. All three judges scored it for Bonfim across all five rounds. giving the Brazilian a unanimous decision and the biggest victory of his career.
Bonfim arrived for his second UFC main event with a 19-1 pro record and momentum from a highlight-reel knockout. Muhammad. meanwhile. brought the polish and pedigree of a former welterweight titleholder. backed by a strong wrestling base and his own reputation for controlling the distance. That reputation didn’t disappear in this one, either. Muhammad has had the scorecards in eight of his past nine fights, with five of those being five-rounders.
Still, Bonfim made the fight live for 25 minutes. Despite the matchup leaning toward Muhammad’s wrestling and Bonfim’s standout jiu-jitsu, they traded strikes throughout the bout, and Bonfim stayed steady enough to earn every round on all three cards.
It was only the third time Bonfim has gone the distance in his mixed martial arts career. For Muhammad, the loss landed like another step down in a turbulent stretch. The 37-year-old entered the matchup ranked No. 5, but after dropping his third consecutive fight, he will continue sliding in the welterweight standings. Before this night. his recent route back to the top looked like it had stalled: he became champion in 2024 after defeating then-champ Leon Edwards. then lost the belt to Jack Della Maddalena via five rounds in May. He followed that with a three-round decision loss to Ian Machado Garry in November.
Bonfim’s own rise may be about to move faster. The 28-year-old from Brazil entered the weekend ranked No. 11 in the 170-pound division. and the win sets him up to join the conversation at the sharp end—he will soon be in the top five alongside Ian Machado Garry (No. 1), Carlos Prates (No. 2), and Michael Morales (No. 3).
After the decision, Bonfim made his intentions plain. He called out Jack Della Maddalena on Saturday and challenged the Aussie to a fight, noting that Della Maddalena is currently ranked one spot ahead of Muhammad. Bonfim also wants another former champion on his record.
Muhammad’s title picture is already different. Islam Makhachev is the current welterweight champion, but the champion has yet to defend the title. His next opponent has not yet been confirmed.
The rest of the card brought its own momentum. No. 4-ranked middleweight contender Brendan Allen took a risk by accepting a matchup with unranked Edmen Shahbazyan, and it paid off. Allen won after 15 minutes of trading strikes, extending 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.
In the lightweight division. Tom Nolan delivered the biggest win of his career with a notable upset over France’s Fares Ziam. The 26-year-old from Australia won two of three rounds on all scorecards to earn a unanimous decision. Ziam, who entered ranked No. 14 at 155 pounds. had won six straight before facing Nolan. and he did win the final round on all three judges’ cards—but it came after Nolan took the first two rounds.
The bantamweight spotlight also swung hard. Bryce Mitchell became the first fighter to defeat 21-year-old prospect Santiago Luna of Mexico. finishing with a submission in the waning seconds of the final round. Mitchell. 31. used veteran savvy and slick top control to manage most of the 135-pound contest. but instead of settling for a decision. he worked to set up an arm-triangle choke late in Round 3. With the win. he improved to 2-0 since dropping from 145 pounds last year. and it was his first submission victory since his 2019 twister of Matt Sayles.
On a card that leaned toward early endings, Iwo Baraniewski improved to 9-0 and kept his perfect first-round finishing rate. The Polish light-heavyweight prospect won his seventh KO/TKO and his fourth straight fight that didn’t last even 90 seconds. He made quick work of Junior Tafa. hurting Tafa with a series of low leg kicks before swarming him with a flurry of ground strikes. Tafa winced because of his left leg, and the bout was called off after just 1:25 of the opening round.
Tafa’s night didn’t just end early—it also carried the weight of replacement and short notice. He 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 Elekana came off a knockout win just over a month ago.
The preliminary card included five finishes, including a run of three consecutive first-round submissions. Matt Schnell fought on after being rocked by Alessandro Costa in the featured prelim. but referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight despite Schnell’s protest. Edgar Chairez looked set to move up at flyweight next week after locking in a rear-naked choke on No. 15-ranked Bruno Silva moments after Chairez’s second knockdown of the opening round. Chelsea Chandler used an armbar to tap Priscila Cachoeira in women’s bantamweight action. and Joanderson Brito made Jordan Leavitt quit with a rear-naked choke.
With six first-round finishes in the twelve matchups, UFC Fight Night: Muhammad vs. Bonfim was one additional first-round stoppage away from tying the modern era record for first-round stoppages.
Saturday’s event was also the sixth card at the Meta Apex in 2026, and the organization’s final show before heading to the White House for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14.
UFC Fight Night Gabriel Bonfim Belal Muhammad unanimous decision Meta Apex Las Vegas Brendan Allen Edmen Shahbazyan Tom Nolan Fares Ziam Bryce Mitchell Santiago Luna Iwo Baraniewski Junior Tafa