Jeisla Chaves Makes UFC Debut at UFC Vegas 118 Against Yuneisy Duben
jeisla chaves makes her UFC debut Saturday night at UFC Vegas 118 after winning a contract in September, a jump that takes her from ring cards to the octagon. The 29-year-old from Poçoes, Bahia, Brazil, will step in against Yuneisy Duben in a flyweight fight.
Chaves earned that shot by beating Sofia Montenegro on Dana White’s Contender Series in September by split decision. UFC signed both fighters after the bout, but only Chaves turns that result into a first walk to the cage this weekend.
Poçoes To The Octagon
Her route is unusual even by MMA standards. Chaves grew up in Poçoes, originally planned to become a geography teacher, graduated in geography and worked a 9-to-5 job before an old school friend asked whether she wanted to make money as a ring girl for a Muay Thai event organized by his coach.
She said she traded ring cards for gloves, and the switch did not stay casual for long. After starting as a ring girl, she fell in love with Muay Thai, had her first amateur fight in less than a year and became champion. By 2023, she had moved into MMA, taking events in her hometown and the surrounding area while building a fighting career that kept pulling her away from the life she had planned.
Chaves And Sofia Montenegro
The pressure point in this story is the jump from local events to a UFC debut. Chaves quit her job to train professionally, turned down a promotion at a shoe factory because it would have forced her to move and leave the gym, and also declined a geography teaching offer at a local school.
Her Contender Series win over Montenegro is the result that changed the path. Chaves called the fight proof that she is stronger than she imagined and said it was the kind of bout she likes, describing it as a fight that would have deserved a Fight of the Night bonus if it had happened in the UFC.
Yuneisy Duben In Las Vegas
Saturday brings the first UFC test against Duben, who was 6-0 before her debut and lost to Carli Judice by first-round knockout in that first UFC appearance. Chaves said her original coaches will be with her in Las Vegas after their visas were denied in 2025, leaving her to make the walk with the people who shaped her from the start watching from inside the arena.
She described the matchup as the kind of fight she loves, the sort built on exchanges rather than caution. For Chaves, the milestone is not just a debut; it is the next step after a split-decision win in September turned a former ring girl into a UFC fighter.
