No Excess Baggage

Gabriel Bonfim seems to grasp the tenuous nature of perfection in mixed martial arts. As such, he bears no additional weight from carrying it on his shoulders.

“Marretinha” will ride a 13-0 record into his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 283, where he locks horns with Mounir Lazzez in a three-round welterweight prelim on Saturday at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. All 13 of Bonfim’s victories have resulted in finishes, 10 of them via submission.

“My record is the result of hard training and focus,” he told Sherdog.com. “I don’t feel too much pressure to remain undefeated. I train every day so I won’t lose. I realize that losses are a great way to learn, but I’d rather not find out. I try to stay a step ahead, but if I do lose, I’ll keep my head high so I can come back even stronger.”

The 25-year-old Bonfim has been engrossed in the combat sports culture basically since he could walk. Older brother Odair Samuray served as a conduit.

“He’s still my coach,” Bonfim said. “He covers all striking arts: boxing, kickboxing and muay thai. When I was born, he already had his own academy. He brought my older brother, Ismael Bonfim, into it first. I was next. We’re still in it. Because our brother had his own academy, he was our biggest help with finances and everything else. My family was always supportive. I have a very large family, with eight sisters and three brothers. Their support is my foundation.”

Bonfim made his professional MMA debut at the age of 17 in December 2014, when he submitted Kleuve Santos with a second-round arm-triangle choke at a regional show in Brazil. From there, he was off to the proverbial races—with a few detours thrown in.

“I originally come from [a] kickboxing [background],” he said. “From kickboxing, I added jiu-jitsu and boxing. Boxing is where I found myself. I’ve had 50 to 60 amateur boxing bouts. I was the Brazilian amateur boxing champion in 2015, and in 2017, I was the Brazilian professional boxing champion. I switched from Olympic to professional. In professional boxing, I had six bouts. After that, I decided to resume my MMA career.”

Bonfim emerged as one of the top prospects in Brazil, captured the Legacy Fighting Alliance welterweight crown and then turned his attention to greener pastures. He punched his ticket to the UFC during Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series on Sept. 6, when he submitted Trey Waters with a first-round shoulder choke. Bonfim operates out of the Cerrado MMA camp, where he sharpens his skills alongside Vicente Luque, Andre Fischer and Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos.

“We’ve been training with Vicente for a long time,” he said. “We have a great friendship. They’re all very good complete fighters with great striking.”

Now comes the true test for Bonfim. Lazzez, 35, has run hot and cold since he joined the UFC roster, his decision wins over Ange Loosa and Abdul Razak Alhassan sandwiched around a stoppage loss to Warlley Alves. The former Desert Force titleholder has delivered eight of his 11 victories by knockout or technical knockout, two of them inside of a minute.

“Mounir is an experienced Tunisian fighter,” Bonfim said. “We can see that he’s a striker who prefers to fight at distance. I feel his ground skills are zero. He’s afraid of the ground. It’s something we’ve been looking into, but our striking leaves nothing to be desired. My forte is striking. I enjoy banging it out. Wherever the fight goes, we’ll be very ready.”

No matter how the bout with Lazzez unfolds, Bonfim plans to take a methodical approach to his transition from prospect to contender in the UFC.

“I’m not in a hurry to get to the belt,” he said. “I’d like to fight four or five times a year. I’d like to take intelligent steps in my career, with no rush. I want to keep evolving. I don’t have any other opponents in mind, but I’ll agree to fight anyone the UFC puts in front of me.”