Fresh off his win at UFC Vegas 118, Gabriel Bonfim has publicly called out a former UFC champion as his desired next opponent. The callout signals his ambitions at the top of the welterweight division.
Gabriel Bonfim wasted no time making his ambitions clear after UFC Vegas 118, publicly calling out a former welterweight champion as the fight he wants next.
Bonfim, known as "Marretinha," is ranked tenth in the welterweight division and carries an impressive 19-1-0 record into his next campaign. The 28-year-old Brazilian, who trains with Bonfim Brothers, stands six-foot-one with a 72-inch reach and fights out of an orthodox stance. He is an active and well-rounded threat, landing 4.61 significant strikes per minute at 46 percent accuracy while also averaging 3.6 takedowns per 15 minutes. His submission rate of 1.4 attempts per 15 minutes underscores a finishing instinct that makes him dangerous in all phases of a fight.
Why it matters
- A matchup against a former champion would represent the biggest test of Bonfim's career and a significant step toward title contention.
- At ranked tenth, a high-profile win could vault him into the upper tier of a crowded welterweight division.
- His combination of striking output, wrestling, and submission attempts gives him a stylistic toolkit capable of troubling elite opposition.
The callout comes at a moment when Bonfim appears to be peaking, still just 28 years old with only one professional loss on his record. Whether the targeted former champion or the UFC matchmakers respond remains to be seen, but the welterweight landscape has been put on notice.
