Ronnie O'Sullivan, the defending champion, defeated Mark Allen 10–6 in the final, winning his 7th UK Championship and his 34th ranking event overall.

Stuart Bingham made the event's highest break of 145 in the first frame of his third round match against David Gilbert.

[4] The tournament opened on 27 November 2018 with the first round of 128 players,[5] which saw a number of upsets: most notably twice champion and World number one, Mark Selby, fell to unseeded amateur James Cahill, 3–6;[6] and former champion and ninth seed Shaun Murphy lost by the same scoreline to 120th seed Chen Feilong.

[10] James Cahill, who defeated world number one Mark Selby in the first round, lost to 64th seed Sunny Akani on another 5–6.

[16] However, world champion Mark Williams lost to 15th seed Stephen Maguire in a deciding frame, having led 4–0 earlier in the match.

[16] Martin O'Donnell (ranked 56th) upset China's eighth seed Ding Junhui by 6–4, and then defeated Judd Trump by the same scoreline to eliminate him from the competition.

[17] Tom Ford survived a decider with Lu Ning, the lowest ranked player left in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Mark Allen also survived a deciding frame against Neil Robertson to go through to the quarter-finals, after making two consecutive centuries from 4–5 down.

During the match, Bingham attempted a maximum break; he potted fifteen reds and blacks, before missing the yellow ball.

In the evening session, O'Sullivan won the first frame, before Allen scored the highest break of the final (105), and entered the interval at 4–8 behind.

World number 52, Yu, was banned for ten years and nine months for fixing five matches over a three-year period.

[31] The chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, Jason Ferguson, expressed his disappointment, stating that the players involved "risk their careers and they will be caught".

[33][34] He stated that he would ask "four or five unhappy players", including Stephen Hendry and John Higgins, to start a new "Champions League-style" tour.

[34][35][36] Hearn also fielded criticism of the current tour schedule from players of all levels, including world champion Mark Williams, Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson.

The event would see first round matches between Mark Allen and Luca Brecel, and between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stuart Bingham.

O'Sullivan pulled out of the event hours after winning the UK Championship before his first round match with Daniel Wells.

[39][40] Having been given a bye through the first round, Wells reached his first ranking event semi-final, building a 4–0 lead against Mark Allen, before eventually losing 5–6.