You only get one Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut!
Only one fighter made her Octagon debut at UFC Vegas 118 last night (Sat., June 6, 2026) inside Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada — and it wasn’t bad or good.
Just meh.
With the dust now settled, let’s hand out a grade to UFC Vegas 118’s lone rookie.
Jeisla Chaves
Brazilian Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Women’s Flyweight Jeisla Chaves scored a UFC contract on Season 9 of Contender Series by defeating Sofia Montenegro via split decision — in a fight that
many people believe Montenegro won. However, the fight was exciting enough in Dana White’s eyes that both women were awarded contracts.
In her Octagon debut, Chaves took on fellow Contender Series veteran Yuneisy Duben, who went viral for her nasty knockout on the show.
The fight started with Chaves landing a calf kick, which Duben immediately returned. Chaves then ate a heavy right hand from Duben but fired back. Duben took Chaves down early, but the UFC rookie got right back up. At the 2:40 mark, both fighters traded body kicks at the exact same time.
Chaves showed in the opening round that she had no fear and was more than willing to engage with Duben’s boxing and power.
Round two started with nearly two minutes of boring clinch work where nothing really happened, but after that, the women got back to scrapping. Chaves landed a body punch that seemed to hurt Duben, but she didn’t recognize it. Instead, she went for a takedown, which Duben defended. Chaves went for it again and got it, eventually working her way to Duben’s back and attacking a face crank. Chaves spent the final minute and a half of the round glued to Duben’s back.
The final round got a little interesting because Duben tried for a spinning backfist and was immediately taken down by Chaves. However, the UFC rookie really started to slow down. Duben got back up and landed a head kick, but Chaves answered by taking her down again. This time, though, Duben reversed the position and started dropping short elbows from top position.
If Duben had a better ground game, she probably could have finished the newcomer because Chaves was clearly gassed. Ultimately, she didn’t, and Chaves escaped with a split decision win.
Chaves vs. Duben was a pretty fun fight to watch, but at times it was extremely low-level. I do not think Chaves is going to have a great UFC career because she is going to be learning on the job at just 7-0, and she fought very weak competition on the regional scene.
To put it in perspective, Duben is ranked near the very bottom of Tapology’s Flyweight rankings, and Chaves had her hands full.
Still, UFC can put her in fun striking fights and see what happens. She should fight Ernesta Kareckaite for her next outing.
Final grade: C
For complete UFC Vegas 118 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.
