Sorry, China! UFC Shanghai Canceled, Moved To Apex

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) won’t return to China in 2023 after all.

The last time UFC held an event in China, Zhang Weili made history when she became the country’s first champion in promotional history, knocking out Jessica Andrade for the Strawweight title in just 42 seconds in the UFC Shenzhen main event in August 2019. Dec. 9, 2023, was recently announced as the return to China for UFC Shanghai, however, longtime manager, Shu Hirata, revealed today (Weds., Nov. 15, 2023) that the event will no longer take place in Shanghai and instead move to Las Vegas inside the UFC APEX Facility. No reason for the location change has been given at this time.

As part of UFC Shanghai, the four Road to UFC season two finals bouts at Flyweight, Bantamweight, Featherweight, and Lightweight were set to take place, but will now be rescheduled for a different date event. Those four fights are Rei Tsuruya vs. Ji Niushiyue, Xiao Long vs. Lee Chang-ho, Yi Zha vs. Li Kai Wen, and Rong Zhu vs. Shin Haraguchi. The Light Heavyweight bout between Zhang Mingyang and Brendson Ribeiro has also been canceled due to visa issues, confirms MMA Junkie’s Nolan King.

The card’s main event sees Bantamweight contenders collide as China’s Song Yadong seeks his second straight win as a UFC headliner when he faces Chris Gutierrez. Both fighters will enter the bout off impressive victories over Ricky Simon and Alateng Heili, respectively.

The current 7-fight lineup can be seen below.

• 135lbs.: Song Yadong vs. Chris Gutiérrez
• 125lbs.: Su Mudaerji vs. Allan Nascimento
• 185lbs.: André Muniz vs. Park Jun-yong
• 155lbs.: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jamie Mullarkey
• 125lbs.: Park Hyun-sung vs. Shannon Ross
• 125lbs.: Tatsuro Taira vs. Carlos Hernandez
• 170lbs.: Song Kenan vs. Kevin Jousset