UFC Shanghai took place on August 23rd, 2025 and the co-main event seemed like an interesting battle between two very talented grapplers, Brian Ortega and Aljamain Sterling. It was an important fight for the featherweight division even though Ortega did miss weight, as Ortega was ranked 5th and Sterling at 7th. As is often the case when two grapplers meet in MMA, both men were content to stay standing for the majority of the fight. Ortega only attempted two takedowns across five rounds and failed on both of them, while Sterling was a little more active and landed three out of his six attempts.
It was pretty much all Sterling on the feet, especially in the first few rounds. Ortega was barely able to land any strikes at all in round one and two, while Sterling peppered him with leg kicks throughout. Ortega tried to get back into the fight in the third round but Sterling was still a step ahead of him, before he faded back to a lower output in the last two rounds. Sterling ended up outstriking him in all five rounds and with a few minutes of control time on top, it was a clean sweep of 50-45 scorecards from all three judges.
UFC Shanghai Full Results
Johnny Walker defeats Mingyang Zhang via TKO – Ground and Pound
Aljamain Sterling defeats Brian Ortega via Decision – Unanimous
Sergei Pavlovich defeats Waldo Cortes-Acosta via Decision – Unanimous
Sumudaerji defeats Kevin Borjas via Decision – Unanimous
Taiyilake Nueraji defeats Kiefer Crosbie via TKO – Ground and Pound
Preliminary Card
Gauge Young defeats Maheshate Hayisaer via Decision – Unanimous
Charles Johnson defeats Lone’er Kavanagh via Knockout – Punch
Rongzhu defeats Austin Hubbard via Decision – Unanimous
Kyle Daukaus defeats Michel Pereira via TKO – Punches
Yizha defeats Westin Wilson via TKO – Punches
Su Young You defeats Long Xiao via Decision – Unanimous
Uran Satybaldiev defeats Diyar Nurgozhay via Submission – Ezekiel Choke
