In 2018 Doherty played against Ronnie O'Sullivan the defending champion in the second round of the UK Championship, few could have predicted it would be a very close match. Doherty was sharp throughout the first half of the first session, leading 3–1, he extended his lead further to 4–1 but O'Sullivan fought back well to win the next 4 frames, Doherty was able to force a decider but ultimately just a few errors from himself was enough for his opponent to finish the frame to prevent him from causing a considerable upset in the tournament where many seeds fell to lower-ranked players already and more would follow. Doherty would be the only player that came close to defeating the eventual champion, besides the final the other matches produced very one-sided results.