Even though I do live in the USA I always kind of feel bad for other nations that have UFC events because normally they will alter the time that it takes place locally in order to cater to the North American audience and even though that works for me as far as me watching it is concerned, that really sucks for the locals.
This time, in Shanghai, they did no such thing and I wasn't going to watch it anyway so it didn't change my life a great deal. Where I live the undercard started at 3am and the main card started at 6am. While I am sometimes awake at that time, I certainly won't get out of bed for a minor UFC event in China.
Apparently there was an unplanned upset that I am sure makes the management at UFC at little upset when Johnny Walker (yes, that is his real name) defeated Asia's next great hope Zhang Mingyang in the 2nd round. I believe Walker was selected because he hasn't been performing very well lately and Zhang has been on a streak with 12 victories in a row going all the way back to 2020.
Zhang was the first Chinese male fighter to EVER headline a UFC card and I think that the idea here was that he would win so that UFC could push for more fans in the very lucrative market that is China.
As is almost always the case with Chinese, Korean, or Japanese fighters in nearly any real combat sport (not wrestling) everything was very polite and formal leading up to the event and I really like this. There are never brawls at the weigh in or prolonged trash-talking leading up to the events. I get that this can help to increase someone's brand if they are really good at it but I actually prefer the polite way of letting one's fists do the talking.
....but lets' stay on topic. The fights started at a convenient time for the people locally and didn't attempt to cater at all to the North American market and that makes me happy. There were events in the past that took place in the UK or even worse, in Australia, where the people in attendance had to be there at something insane like 4am to see the whole event so that they could time the Pay-per-view at a convenient 7pm (main card start time) for the North Americans. I get that this is a business and they are aiming for making as much money as they possibly can, but that is really shit for the local fans.
I would like that believe that adrenaline takes over for them and they go and grab a beer at breakfast anyway and make a day of it, but I can remember back to when Ronda Rousey fought Holly Holm in Australia all those years ago and the people had to be lined up to get into the venue at 3am. That just seems wrong to me.
China was having none of it though and that was probably part of the contract that UFC worked out with them. China has that largest potential audience of any country in the world, and they don't really bow down to anyone. I am sure that the UFC management is really disappointed that Johnny Walker won and he didn't just win, he won in dominant fashion.
Something else that was disappointing, but maybe more so to me, was Aljamain Sterling defeating Brian Ortega by decision. Sterling has been one of the least popular fighters after winning a title by DQ and then boring everyone with his grapple and waste time tactics ever since. He gets booed almost anywhere that he goes so I suppose China, where the audience is very polite and didn't even boo Johnny Walker when defeating a home-town hero, is the perfect place for him to get a win.
I'll give credit where credit is due, Sterling stuck to an almost entirely striking offense during this fight and actually produced some highlights that weren't just grappling and being the "human backpack." By the way, he has abandoned the human backpack as his nickname and now calls himself "Funk Master" although I have no idea why.
It is important to note that Brian Ortega looked sick at the weigh ins and apparently needed medical attention in the afternoon and there was talk about calling off the fight. But Ortega's team insisted he was ready. In the end the fight was decent, but Ortega never really mounted much offense.