The women’s flyweight title will unexpectedly be up for grabs when Natalia Silva fights Wang Cong in the main event of UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 3rd.
The UFC’s original intention had been to have flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko headline this show against Silva, but ‘Bullet’ is reported to have suffered an undisclosed injury that will keep her out of action for a year, leading to a decision to vacate her belt for the time being.
It’s undoubtedly an underwhelming choice for a numbered event headliner in terms of star power, but the 29-year-old Silva has earned the right to fight for a title after racking up an impressive eight-fight winning streak since joining the promotion back in 2022.
Along the way Silva has managed to beat the likes of former flyweight champ Alexa Grasso and two ex-strawweight titleholders in Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade, as well as other notable wins against the likes of Viviane Araujo and Jasmine Jasudavicius, making her the clear No.1 contender in the weight class and No.4 in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Silva will be going up against the 34-year-old Cong, who has put together a four-fight winning streak since February of last year.
That run has included unanimous decision wins over Bruna Brasil, Ariane da Silva, Eduarda Moura and most recently Tracy Cortez just a couple of months ago to take the No.6 spot on the flyweight ladder.
Silva vs. Cong fronts a UFC 332 card that will also feature a bantamweight fight between Deiveson Figueiredo and Payton Talbott in the co-main event.
