Gabriel Bonfim’s TKO win over Randy Brown last weekend propelled him into the top 10 rankings at welterweight, and now he’s looking ahead to who he wants to fight next.

Ideally Bonfim is aiming to go up against the No.11 ranked Colby Covington, but if he doesn’t agree to the fight then he sees the no.7 placed Joaquin Buckley as the best option.

“I called out Colby, but Joaquin Buckley is also available,” Bonfim said to MMA Fighting. “I think he’s pretty much the only one I want to fight who’s free right now. And I think it’s a good fight too. If Colby doesn’t accept, then it’s Joaquin Buckley. If Colby does, it’s Colby. I’ll take either one.”

The 31-year-old Buckley headed into 2025 off the back of a six-fight winning streak that included finishing the likes of Colby Covington, Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque via strikes, but his momentum was then halted by Kamaru Usman, who defeated him on the scorecards.

“[Buckley is] coming off a loss to Usman and might take the fight,” Bonfim said. “There are other guys in the division who could take it too. This Saturday, six of them are fighting, and after that a couple more, so things are getting sorted out in the division. I believe by early 2026 there’ll already be fights booked.”

The welterweight landscape could certainly be significantly altered by the end of this weekend’s UFC 322 event in NYC as the main card is stacked with top 170lber’s due to the Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev title fight alongside the likes of Sean Brady vs. Michael Morales and Leon Edwards vs. Carlos Prates.

So the UFC matchmakers certainly won’t be short of options when it comes around to booking Bonfim’s next fight.