Bruna Brasil will headline Friday’s Road to UFC card in Shanghai opposite Chinese prospect Shi Ming, but that was not the original plan.
The UFC has a Fight Night event booked for Saturday in Shanghai, headlined by Johnny Walker and Zhang Mingyang at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium, while Road to UFC, the tournament built to recruit Chinese fighters to the promotion, has a show at the same venue a day before.
“I didn’t expect to go to China [laughs]. The opponent never crossed my head either, she just
got in the UFC,” Brasil told MMA Fighting. “[The fight] was going to be in the regular UFC but then they suggested to transfer the fight to be a special main event to promote the Road card. I thought it was cool because it will get more attention. We would probably be fighting in the prelims, and now we get to stand out more.”
Brasil said it’s more “captivating and exciting” to be the main event of a smaller show than filling up a regular UFC Fight Night.
“Tickets went on sale and it was sold out in like, 10 minutes,” Brasil said. “I was very excited about that. I think it’s going to be very cool to enter the octagon in a packed arena with everybody screaming and cheering. It’s going to be fantastic. It’s an unusual opportunity, I didn’t expect to be the main event of a UFC event, so it’s going to be an incredible experience for me. It’s going to be wonderful to show people my talent and what I have to offer.”
The Fighting Nerds strawweight dropped to 2-3 in the UFC after a short-notice flyweight loss to Wand Cong in February, seven months after beating Molly McCann in Manchester. Brasil now aims to once again be victorious in enemy territory.
“She’s beloved in China, we’ve seen that already,” Brasil said of Ming. “People like her personality, the fact she’s super nice. And she’s also very respectful in the fight, and Asians like that.”
Ming joined the UFC after a pair of decision victories on the Road to UFC tournament, and is back to the octagon for the first time since an incredibly violent head kick knockout over Xiaocan Feng at UFC’s last trip to Macau in November 2024.
Brasil said that Ming is very technical and moves well on the feet, and flexible to escape submissions on the ground, but might still be untested in the sport.
“I believe she has competed with good athletes, based on what I’ve seen, but I don’t believe she has faced anyone of my level yet,” Brasil said. “People say I’m misguiding, that I look thin but my strikes are powerful, especially the kicks. I believe she will feel when I land the first kick or teep. I believe she will feel that hard, and that’s when she will begin to realize she has to maybe change strategies a little bit, try to circle more. I’m ready for those changes. I believe she will try takedowns, too.”
