UFC Vegas 118 Power Rankings: Rating The Night’s Big Winners At The Meta APEX

The UFC returned to their home base of the Meta APEX for a UFC Fight Night card that had major implications for the top of the welterweight division, as former champion Belal Muhammad looked to defend his top-five ranking against rising Brazilian contender Gabriel Bonfim.

Here are our power rankings for the main card winners at UFC Fight Night: Muhammad vs Bonfim.

UFC Vegas 118 Power Rankings

1. Gabriel Bonfim

On Saturday night, Brazil’s Bonfim faced a major step up in class as he took on the biggest challenge of his MMA career. By the end of the night it was clear that he had passed that test with flying colors.

Bonfim comprehensively outpointed former undisputed champion Belal Muhammad to score a shutout victory on the scorecards, earning scores of 50-45 across the board. It means that the Brazilian is now right in the mix at the top of the UFC welterweight division, and his callout of former champion Jack Della Maddalena was perfectly pitched.

Bonfim is now without doubt part of the welterweight elite, and one more win – potentially against Della Maddalena – could potentially see him in a title eliminator by this time next year, or earlier.

2. Iwo Baraniewski

Polish finishing machine Iwo Baraniewski added another victim to his growing list on Saturday night when he stopped Australian knockout artist Junior Tafa in the first round of their light heavyweight matchup.

Baraniewski had blown the doors off his first two opponents in the UFC as he demolished Ibo Aslan and Austen Lane, both in the first round as he showcased his thunderous punch power in MMA gloves. That first-round-finish formula continued against Tafa, though he mixed up his weapons to make the breakthrough. His use of chopping leg kicks proved crucial as he took Tafa off his feet, then he returned to his heavy-hands to finish the job with some nasty ground and pound.

Baraniewski’s first-round finish of Tafa saw him go 3-0 in the UFC, with all three wins coming by way of knockout. Not bad for a former judoka…

3. Brendan Allen

Brendan Allen has been in and around the middleweight top 10 for a good while now, and he wants to use his beef with Sean Strickland to take him all the way to the undisputed 185-pound title.

Allen currently sits fourth in the official middleweight rankings, just out of reach of a title shot. But he hopes that his rivalry with Strickland will see him leapfrog the likes of former champion Dricus Du Plessis and French contender Nassourdine Imavov.

Unfortunately for Allen, his decision win over the unranked Edmen Shahbazyan is unlikely to see him advance past that pair in the rankings, so it’s likely he’ll have to beat one more opponent before a title shot emerges. But make no mistake, Allen’s excellent form – he’s now on a three-fight win streak – means he’s getting closer to his ultimate goal.

4. Bryce Mitchell

After a 2025 where more was written about Bryce Mitchell away from the cage than inside it, the Arkansas featherweight returned to action in Las Vegas and claimed a last-gasp submission victory over late replacement Santiago Luna.

Luna put up a good fight, but Mitchell’s top-drawer ground game eventually saw him claim victory as he locked up an arm-triangle to force the finish with just eight seconds left on the clock.

After previously alternating wins and losses through six bouts over three years, Mitchell isn’t in a position to challenge the division’s best. But his victory on Saturday gave him back-to-back wins for the first time since March 2022, and put him back in position to potentially challenge someone with a number next to their name later in the year.

5. Tom Nolan

Australia’s “Big Train” continued rolling on Saturday as Tom Nolan claimed a unanimous decision win over his toughest opponent yet.

Nolan faced off against France’s Fares Ziam, who arrived in Vegas riding a six-fight win streak, including a vicious TKO finish of Nazim Sadykov in his last appearance. But in a closely-contested battle between two emerging talents, Nolan did enough to earn the nod from all three judges, who each scored the bout 29-28.

The win gave Nolan his fifth straight win in the UFC, and showed that the six-foot-three Aussie is a really tricky proposition at 155 pounds.