After previously contesting three events in
Macau (a
Special administrative region of China) since 2012, the event marked the first that the promotion held on
Mainland China. The pairing was previously scheduled to meet in June 2017 at
UFC 212. However, Gastelum was pulled from the bout after he tested positive for Carboxy-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Carboxy-THC) which is a metabolite of
marijuana or
hashish above the 180 ng/mL allowance by the
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) standard. In turn, despite having two months to secure an opponent, Silva and promotion officials confirmed on May 11 that he would not compete at that event. On November 10, it was announced that Silva had failed an out of competition drug test stemming from a sample collected on October 26 and as a result had been pulled from the card. A day later, former
UFC Middleweight Champion and
The Ultimate Fighter 3 light heavyweight winner
Michael Bisping was secured as a replacement opponent for Gastelum. Bisping had fought 21 days prior to this event at
UFC 217, where he lost the championship to former two-time
UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre. On November 18, it was announced that James Mulheron had failed an out-of-competition drug test stemming from sampled collected on November 10 and as a result he was pulled from the card. His scheduled opponent,
Cyril Asker, remained on the card and faced promotional newcomer
Hu Yaozong. A pair of promotional newcomers,
Liu Pingyuan and Bharat Khandare were expected to face each other at the event. However, Liu pulled out in November and was replaced by fellow newcomer
Song Yadong. At the weigh ins,
Rolando Dy weighed in at 148 pounds, 2 pounds over the featherweight upper limit of 146 pounds. As such, the bout was held at a catchweight and Dy forfeited 20% of his purse to
Wuliji Buren. ==Results==