UFC Cancels China Event, Drops 4 Fights & Changes Country

The UFC's December 9 return to China has been cancelled. The event will now take place in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The news was broken by fighter manager Shu Hirata in a post on November 15:

"The UFC Shanghai [event] has been cancelled, so it's going to be Vegas."

The reason for the switch hasn't been disclosed yet, but the four 'Road to UFC' finalist bouts have been rescheduled for a later date.

The new UFC Fight Night 233 lineup looks like this:

UFC Schedule 2023: Every Fight & Major Event Happening This Year

Song Yadong vs. Chris Gutierrez
Roman Dolidze vs. Nassourdine Imavov (verbally agreed)
Andre Muniz vs. Jun Yong Park
Sumadaerji vs. Allan Nascimento
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jamie Mullarkey
Tatsuro Taira vs. Carlos Hernandez
Hyun Sung Park vs. Shannon Ross
Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribiero
Song Kenan vs. Kevin Jousset
Rongzhu vs. Shin Haraguchi
Li Kai Wen vs. Yi Zha
Xiao Long vs. Chang Ho Lee
Rei Tsuruya vs. Jiniushiyue

With only eight fights left on the card, fans can expect the UFC to replenish the night with some short-notice bookings. Though it's bittersweet for the fighters that remain --- especially Song Yadong.

Yadong will have been stripped of the opportunity to perform in front of his home crowd, and won't be offered any substitute in the empty UFC Apex facility.

UFC Schedule: Every Event & Fight Happening in 2024

Not just that, but Yadong was initially set to go up against Petr Yan. The Chinese phenom not only finds himself without his original opponent but also without his original venue.

Stick with MMA Knockout for more daily coverage of the UFC and MMA

Follow MMA Knockout on Twitter and Facebook.