It’s not an easy night for the newcomers, and when you add in the pressure of fighting in front of a packed house at Jeunesse Arena, that could be an issue…unless you’re the Bonfim brothers.
“Fighting in the UFC is my dream, even more so here in Brazil with the crowd in my favor,” said Ismael. “It makes me even more excited.”
“Honestly, I don’t feel any pressure,” added Gabriel. “This is a great opportunity to show our work and we’re ready, so let’s do it.”
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If it helps at all, the Bonfims have been to three previous UFC events in their home country, Gabriel insisting the most recent time that the next show he went to would be with him “as a competitor, not a fan,” and Ismael also confident that his time to wear those three letters on his gloves was coming.
Saturday night, it’s all coming to fruition, yet while they’re the new kids on the block, a lifetime of work went into make this dream happen, and it all started with a competitive nature that exists to this day.
“We were always very competitive, even to the point of crying when one of us was beaten by the other,” said Ismael. “We’ve always been very competitive, but very supportive.”
Gabriel agrees.
“We have always been very competitive since childhood,” he laughed. “We always fought in training (laughs), but we’ve been very supportive of each other, too.”
