You only get one Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut!
The four newcomers made their first appearances as fully contracted UFC fighters yesterday (Saturday, November 7, 2026). UFC Vegas 124 inside Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Collectively, the newcomers achieved a miserable result of 0:4, losing the standings twice.
Now that the dust has settled, let’s evaluate their performances.
UFC interim lightweight title challenger Carlos Prates’ teammate, Marcos Deglihad to compete inside the octagon long ago. After he finally cashed out his contract in season 10 Contender seriesthe highly rated Brazilian made his debut Mitch Raposo.
Degli landed the sharpest shots during a competitive opening round, connecting with a left hook and a well-timed elbow. Raposo answered with several right hands over the top, but Degli’s cleaner attack gave him an early advantage.
Raposo took control of the center in the second round and repeatedly found home on the right hand. Degli struggled to create openings and despite increasing his production late, he couldn’t consistently catch the ever-moving Raposo.
The two flyweights clashed early in the third, but Raposo quickly continued to apply pressure. Degli opened a cut with an elbow near Raposo’s hairline, but Raposo countered with a hard jab that seemed to hurt the Brazilian. Raposo then finished off a late takedown attempt to close out the unanimous decision win at three, 29-28.
The loss snapped Degli’s 13-game winning streak.
I still believe that Degli is the more talented fighter, but the fact of the matter is that Raposo outworked him and outplayed him. If Degli allows this to happen against the deeper end of the Flyweight division, he will be in serious trouble.
I’ll just say it: it was a hugely disappointing performance from someone who entered the campaign with so much hype.
Hopefully, Degli’s killer instinct will return in his second Octagon appearance.
He should fight Michael Aljarouj next.
Make the winner of the UFC Season 4 Featherweight Tournament Keiichiro Nakamura entered his first fight as a contracted UFC athlete Ollie Schmidt as a significant betting favourite.
He left with his first professional loss.
Nakamura opened the fight with kicks, walks and more kicks while Schmid mixed spinning attacks upstairs with cleaner shots to the body. Schmid landed a sharp right hand and a high jab, doing enough with his boxing to win the opening round.
Schmid maintained his pressure in the second, connecting with kicks to the head and body before landing a left hook. Nakamura responded with jabs and straights, but Schmid continued to win exchanges and entered the final round with what appeared to be a two-round lead.
Knowing he would likely need a finish, Nakamura came out aggressively in the third and eventually dropped Schmid with a left hook. The Japanese prospect followed him to the canvas with a ground and pound, but Schmid survived, returned to his feet and endured another wild combination. Schmid then hit a kick and scored a late takedown before the horn, securing the unanimous decision victory.
UFC fans previously saw Nakamura at UFC 325, where he earned his contract by knockout Sebastian Szalay In the third round of the Road to UFC Finals. Nakamura was on the verge of losing that fight before finding the finish and almost pulled off the same comeback against Schmid.
Nakamura has legitimate power and an entertaining striking style, but he can’t keep splitting rounds waiting for one big moment. If he couldn’t consistently establish himself against Schmid, it’s fair to ask how he’ll fare against the better featherweights.
Still, Nakamura gets scrapped, and that’s always a positive.
Would like to see him fight Melsik Baghdasarjan next.
Brazilian heavyweight Gabriel Lorenzo drew Thomas Petersen for his UFC debut less than two months after earning his contract in Season 10 Contender series.
Petersen secured an early takedown and briefly took Lorenzo back, but the Brazilian escaped and got to his feet. Lorenco then hit Petersen with a left hook and unleashed a barrage of knees, elbows and punches that dropped “The Train” multiple times. Petersen somehow survived while Lorenzo exhausted himself securing the finish.
Petersen completely turned the tide in the second round, dropping Lorenzo with a left hook before unloading ground and pound. Petersen attacked Kimura when he didn’t get the stoppage, but Lorenzo escaped and returned to his feet. Both heavyweights were exhausted and spent much of the rest of the round staring each other down.
Petersen hurt Lorenzo again early in the third before taking him down near the fence. “The Train” controlled the exhausted Brazilian for most of the round, finally roused himself and unloaded unanswered ground and pound until the referee stopped the fight with just 13 seconds remaining.
To Lorenzo’s credit, he came extremely close to finishing Petersen in the first lap. Unfortunately, he drained his gas tank in the process, allowing the more experienced fighter to survive, recover, and break through.
Lorenzo weighed in at just 234 pounds and is athletic enough that a move to light heavyweight could be possible. However, as the UFC heavyweight division stands now, he may prefer to stick with the big boys.
Either way, the retirement of Petersen — who has alternated wins and losses throughout his UFC career — is off to a rough start.
Lorenzo can fight Joel Faglier next.
Carlos Calderon made his UFC debut with just four days notice Austin Debt and completely got into a swing.
Calderon started off aggressively and landed during the early exchanges, prompting Bash to change levels for a takedown. “The Chief” jumped for a guillotine, but Bashi calmly escaped, shifted to Calderon’s back and locked in a rear naked choke that forced the tap just 67 seconds into the fight.
Calderon has legal regional powers. He entered the UFC as the Fury FC featherweight champion and won against the longtime UFC veteran. Damon Jackson.
Still, his debut looked like exactly what it was: an emergency short-notice signing facing a prepared opponent several levels above him.
One minute on Thursday’s notice isn’t enough to definitively determine Calderon’s UFC ceiling, but there was hardly anything positive about the grade. I’m also not convinced he’ll get an Octagon victory until his promotion runs out.
He can face Damien Anderson in his second appearance.
Click for complete results, coverage and highlights from UFC Vegas 124 HERE.