UFC Shanghai Recap: Walker, Sterling, and Pavlovich get big wins

This morning the UFC was in Shanghai and they brought a strong card to China. In the main event, we saw a light heavyweight showcase between China’s Zhang Mingyang (19-7) and Johnny Walker (22-9).

On paper, this seemed like an opportunity for Zhang to shine and he looked good in the first round. However, once the fight reached the second round, I was really curious to see how he’d hold up. Zhang had never won a fight in his career that made it into the second round and that didn’t change this morning.

Johnny Walker dropped Zhang with a brutal leg kick and Zhang was never able to recover. This was a step up in competition for Zhang and Walker proved that there were levels at UFC Shanghai.

UFC Shanghai

In the co-main event, we saw a five-round catchweight fight between former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (25-5) and former featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega (16-5). This was supposed to be a featherweight matchup but a weight issue by Ortega switched it up.

This fight was all about Aljamain Sterling and Brian Ortega really never felt like he was in it. The striking difference was sizable in every round with Sterling way out in front. It wasn’t the most thrilling fight in the world, but it was a convincing win for Sterling who moved to 2-1 at featherweight.

Also on the UFC Shanghai main card was a top ten heavyweight matchup between Sergei Pavlovich (20-3) and Waldo Cortes-Acosta (14-2). There was a lot of pressure on Pavlovich in this matchup to show that he’s still one of the very best in the world and he did that.

Both men were able to last all three rounds, but Pavlovich landed the much better shots throughout. In the end, he won a clear decision and this win puts him right back in the mix at the top of the heavyweight division.