The UFC returned to China for the first time since 2019 on Saturday, with a Fight Night event headed by Johnny Walker and Zhang Mingyang.
It was a tough night in the office for Zhang Mingyang who ran a UFC event in his home country for the first time in his home country and compete against Johnny Walker.
In the UFC Shanghai Main Event, Walker took the upset victory and Mingyang gave his first UFC loss when he was smashed with a leg kick and the subsequent ground and pound in round two.
It was also a night to forget for the UFC translator, who was flamed online by the UFC fan base for its continuous accidents during the event.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Fans respond to UFC translator
This was a fairly unique event for UFC fans in the United States, because it was in Shanghai, it took place in the early hours of the morning.
And things were not made easy for fans in the United States, because the translator translated Octagon interviews for the live crowd and those who look at home had an evening to forget.
After the decision of Sergei Pavlovich against Waldo Cortes-Acosta, there were actually two translators in the Octagon, who further confused those things.
“Has the UFC replaced the Chinese translator Middenkaart? She was so bad?” Another fan responded to the continuous accidents on the broadcast.
Bisping “Translate for people at home”
Translator “He speaks Chinese!”
Bisping “I know 🤣 translate for us what he says”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 #UFC #UFCSHUHAI
– Anan Abubaker (@anan_abubaker) August 23, 2025
View tweet
“Could you have found a worse translator?” Another fan asked the promotion.
“This UFC translator is terrible,” said another fan.
Herb Dean also under fire for UFC Shanghai Performance
Fortunately for the translator, she was not the only one under fire on Saturday for her performance in Shanghai.
Veteran referee Herb Dean has again been exploded by the UFC fans for his officials of the Co-Main event between Aljamain Sterling and Brian Ortega.
During the fight, Sterling landed a blow to Ortega that landed with his knuckles, and although Dean confirmed audibly that it was a legal blow, he still called a stop at the action and gave Ortega the time to recover.