diff --git a/config/ompi_check_ucx.m4 b/config/ompi_check_ucx.m4
index e691fc03e73..3ac674dc5ae 100644
--- a/config/ompi_check_ucx.m4
+++ b/config/ompi_check_ucx.m4
@@ -74,8 +74,15 @@ AC_DEFUN([OMPI_CHECK_UCX],[
                              [ompi_check_ucx_cv_have_version_1_8=yes])])
            AS_IF([test "${ompi_check_ucx_cv_have_version_1_8}" = "yes"],
                  [AC_MSG_WARN([UCX support skipped because version 1.8.x was found, which has a known catastrophic issue.])
-                  AC_MSG_WARN([Please upgrade to UCX version 1.9 or higher.])
                   ompi_check_ucx_happy=no])])
+           AC_PREPROC_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[
+#include <ucp/api/ucp_version.h>
+                             ]], [[
+#if (UCP_API_MAJOR < 1) || ((UCP_API_MAJOR == 1) && (UCP_API_MINOR < 9))
+#error "Version too low"
+#endif
+                             ]])],
+                             [], [AC_MSG_WARN([UCX version is too old, please upgrade to 1.9 or higher.])])
 
     AS_IF([test "$ompi_check_ucx_happy" = yes],
           [AC_CHECK_DECLS([ucp_tag_send_nbr],
diff --git a/ompi/mca/pml/ucx/pml_ucx.c b/ompi/mca/pml/ucx/pml_ucx.c
index a41b8d0bb5a..a585d52319b 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/pml/ucx/pml_ucx.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/pml/ucx/pml_ucx.c
@@ -217,6 +217,12 @@ int mca_pml_ucx_open(void)
         return OMPI_ERROR;
     }
 
+    if ((major_version == 1) && (minor_version < 9)) {
+        /* show warning due to issue #8549 */
+        PML_UCX_WARN("UCX version %u.%u.%u is too old, please install 1.9.x or "
+                     "newer", major_version, minor_version, release_number);
+    }
+
     /* Read options */
     status = ucp_config_read("MPI", NULL, &config);
     if (UCS_OK != status) {