Road to UFC queen Shi Ming draws Puja Tomar for strawweight showcase in Macau
Shi Ming and Puja Tomar will headline a UFC Fight Night card at Galaxy Arena in Macau on Friday, May 29, 2026, in a five-round women’s strawweight main event at 115 lbs. Their bout tops a card that also features the Road to UFC Season 4 flyweight final between Namsrai Batbayar and Yin Shuai in the co-main event.
Road to UFC: Shi Ming and Puja Tomar
The event is part of the Road to UFC series in Macau, China, with Shi Ming vs. Puja Tomar set as the main attraction on the Friday of UFC’s Macau fight week. The card will be staged at Galaxy Arena, a regular combat sports venue in the city, with Ming and Tomar competing over five rounds in the women’s strawweight division.
The co-headliner is slated to be the Road to UFC Season 4 flyweight tournament final between Mongolian prospect Namsrai Batbayar (9-1) and Chinese contender Yin Shuai (18-6).
Shi Ming: hometown headliner
Shi Ming enters the main event with a professional record of 17-6, fighting out of Kunming, Yunnan, China, and representing China Catch Wrestling. She competes at strawweight, stands around 157 cm tall, and has a background that blends catch wrestling with developing striking, which has produced a mix of submission and knockout finishes.
Ming first drew wider attention through the Road to UFC system, where she won the Season 3 women’s strawweight tournament to secure her UFC deal and become the first Road to UFC women’s strawweight champion. Her profile jumped again with a brutal head-kick knockout that left an opponent being stretchered from the cage, footage that circulated widely across MMA media and social platforms. That finish, along with a growing highlight reel of stoppages across Asia, helped set up her second UFC main event despite a current official UFC record of 0-1, following a decision loss to Bruna Brasil in a Road to UFC main event slot.
Outside the cage, Ming made headlines when it emerged she had been balancing medical studies and training, with her family initially unaware that she was competing professionally in MMA until her viral knockout brought sudden attention. That contrast between treating patients by day and fighting by night has added another hook to UFC’s promotion of her as a new Chinese headliner.
Puja Tomar: India’s trailblazer
Across from her will be Puja “The Cyclone” Tomar, who brings a 9-5 professional record and fights out of Budhana, India, while training with Soma Fight Club and often basing her camps in Bali. Tomar has held the Matrix Fight Night (MFN) strawweight title, making a name on India’s leading domestic promotion before re-signing with the UFC.
Tomar became the first Indian-born woman to sign with the UFC in 2023 and made history again in June 2024 by defeating Rayanne dos Santos via split decision at UFC on ESPN 57, becoming the first Indian woman to win a UFC bout. Her UFC run currently stands at 1-1 after a submission loss to Shauna Bannon by armbar in March 2025, but her willingness to engage in striking exchanges has produced six career knockout wins and several rapid first-round finishes under 30 seconds.
For Ming, a win in Macau would mark her first UFC victory and confirm the Road to UFC tournament run as a launchpad into the top tier of the division. For Tomar, upsetting a Chinese star in Asia would strengthen her position as India’s leading MMA export and could set up ranked opposition, while also adding another milestone chapter to her role as the country’s first and only female UFC representative.
