UFC Shanghai went down yesterday (Sat., Aug. 23, 2025) inside Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China, which saw Johnny Walker secure an impressive technical knockout (TKO) win over Mingyang Zhang (see it again here). In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling won a lackluster unanimous decision win over Brian Ortega in a Lightweight bout (recap here).

Biggest Winner: Johnny Walker

Walker has long been an enigma, a fighter many fight fans have always felt should have been better than what he’s shown over the last few years. After back-to-back knockout losses in 2024, things looked rather gloomy for the towering Brazilian, and another devastating defeat would have put him at a major crossroads in his career. But yesterday, he looked like a calm combatant out there fighting loose and with nothing to lose, eventually doing enough to upset the hometown favorite. Walker made the move over to Extreme Couture earlier this year, and so far its looking like a smart move. Could this be a sign of things to come?

We are going to go all the way down to the “prelims” for this one, because Daukaus deserves some love after disposing of Michel Pereira in the very first round, and he did it in just 43 seconds to be exact (see it again here). Furthermore, the lightning quick win secured him an extra $50,000 via a post-fight bonus award. It’s a nice start to Daukaus’ second run with the promotion, and he has now won five in a row overall after going a dreadful 2-4-1 in his first run from 2020 to 2022.

Biggest Loser (s): Brian Ortega and Michel Pereira

This week was one of the worst for Ortega, who came in heavy for his scheduled Featherweight fight against Sterling, almost forcing the cancellation of the fight. Aside from looking like a zombie during weigh ins, he didn’t look all that great once the fight actually started. In the end, he lose a very lackluster unanimous decision to Sterling. That is now two straight losses for “T-City,” and drops to a whopping 1-4 in his last five fights. It seems that a once-promising career is taking a huge dive, and if he doesn’t turn things around, he could be too far gone to make another move up with another defeat. As for Pereira, things aren’t looking so good for him, either, as his 43-second knockout defeat to Daukaus marks the third straight defeat for him inside the Octagon. It’s a drastic down fall for the flashy striker, who has won eight straight before going on his slump.

For complete UFC Shanghai results and play-by-play, click here.