Apollo Gomes vows to knock out Won Il Kwon again and seal UFC contract at DWCS

Apollo Gomes will face Won Il Kwon at Dana White’s Contender Series in Las Vegas on Tuesday, with the Brazilian bantamweight predicting a knockout finish and a UFC contract to follow.

Gomes, who trains at the storied Chute Boxe gym in São Paulo alongside BMF champion Charles Oliveira, Ian Machado Garry, and Norma Dumont, arrives on a three-fight winning streak. His opponent, 31-year-old South Korean Won Il Kwon, is a former ONE Championship contender who was knocked out by Juan Diaz in his first DWCS appearance in October 2025 — a result Gomes is confident he can replicate.

“The anticipation is through the roof,” Gomes told MMA Fighting. “I’ve been training really well. I’m going to put on a great fight, Dana White is going to be impressed, and I’m going to secure that contract.”

Gomes acknowledges Kwon will arrive with added desperation. “This is his second opportunity. He already lost his first one, so I know he’s going to come with everything he has,” he said. “But he’s going to fall to my hands.” Kwon went 6-2 in ONE Championship, with both losses coming against reigning champion Fabricio Andrade.

Beyond the competitive stakes, the fight carries deep personal meaning for Gomes. He wants to dedicate the contract to his late training partner and friend Allan Nascimento, a flyweight veteran who passed away in August and had once cornered Gomes at a UFC event in Las Vegas.

“He really wanted to see me there,” Gomes said. “He would always tell me, ‘Take it easy, Apollito, your time is coming.’ You can be sure that, beyond my own story, I’m also going to carry his story with me in there. I’m going to bring that contract home for both of us.”

The broader environment at Chute Boxe has reinforced Gomes’s belief that a UFC title run is within reach. “Seeing UFC fighters by my side, training with me, getting wins in the UFC and winning the belt — that makes me really happy,” he said. “It gives me this feeling that I’m going to make it, that I’m going to get there and eventually fight for a title, or even win a belt myself.”