Prove they are wrong: For UFC 332s Natalia Silva and Wang Cong, the criti
A UFC women's flyweight title fight without Valentina Shevchenko just feels wrong.
Aside from the introduction of the belt through "The Ultimate Fighter" in 2017, the all-time great, now-former two-time champion has been part of every title fight in the division's nine-year history — an incredible stretch of 13 straight bouts. So when the news broke that Shevchenko had vacated her championship, the MMA community was as confused as it was disappointed.
And thus became the backdrop for UFC 332's main event in Salt Lake City on Oct. 3 — flyweight contenders Natalia Silva and Wang Cong, set to fight for Shevchenko's strap. No interim label. It's for the title. "What happened to Shevchenko? This is the best the UFC has to offer?? This is a numbered event headliner?!?" The immediate questions — and complaints — flooded the MMA ecosphere, which had already begun to sour on women's fights in 2026.
At the very least, Silva was already expected to challenge Shevchenko next. But with an undisclosed injury likely to keep Shevchenko out of action, the UFC felt compelled to move on entirely, rather than create the promotion's first women's interim belt.
Pitchforks and tomatoes have been out for the flyweight contenders ever since, putting Silva and Wang in an almost unfair position. China's Wang, in particular, continues to be seen as the most out of place in this picture, which also makes her its biggest beneficiary.
Sitting at No. 6 in the official UFC flyweight rankings, speaking through an interpreter, Wang told Uncrowned she always knew a title shot was next, despite recently defeating Tracy Cortez and calling for a showdown against veteran contender Manon Fiorot. Discussions began internally as far back as May before UFC Macau, said Wang.
Silva, meanwhile, had been preparing for Shevchenko since her January win over Rose Namajunas.
"At the end of the day, my fight and my prep and my camp was to fight the one that was holding the belt," Silva told Uncrowned through an interpreter. "The interest in fighting Valentina is that she was holding the belt. I want to be a champion, and whoever is holding that belt is the person that I want to face. So I was happy about that.
"My objective and my goal was to actually face Valentina if it was for a title. There's no frustration, no disappointment whatsoever. I wanted to fight for a title, and that's what I'm fighting for, and that's the only thing that matters."
Yet Shevchenko's absence is impossible to ignore leading into UFC 332. Perhaps that's mostly because the fight hasn't happened yet, and the world will move on once a new champion is crowned. The problem, however, then becomes the same issue Mackenzie Dern continues to face as the UFC's current strawweight titleholder in the absence of Zhang Weili: Are they really the champion if they don't beat the champion?
It's an awkward distinction, especially in a sport where titles are often treated as lineages rather than mere belts. Just as Dern has yet to beat her predecessor Zhang, the winner of Saturday's 125-pound title tilt will have to wait to do the same with Shevchenko.
"I believe in the future, [I'll definitely face Shevchenko]," Wang said. "I think as long as I beat my opponent, I'm the real champ. This is for the belt."
Silva, 29, was much more candid about her feelings on the winner of UFC 332's ability to claim championship status. If anyone questions her as a "real" champion, she said, they'll have to prove they're better. Plain and simple.
"It doesn't bother me," she said, "because at the end of the day, if I fight for that title and I get that belt and become the champion, the people that … have to prove something to me are those who want that belt. If you want it, you come and face me.
"People that are going to be naysayers and people saying the contrary … they're always going to be there. But they're the ones that have to prove something to me. I have nothing to prove to myself if I become a champion [this Saturday] and I win the belt."
Frustration radiated off Silva's tone as she spoke, even as she kept her composure. It's not typically a side we've seen from the talented Brazilian since her UFC arrival in 2022. This is a fighter who clawed her way to the peak of the division, winning eight consecutive bouts despite dealing with a near three-year injury layoff between her 2020 signing and official Octagon debut.
She isn't about to let anyone diminish the work it took to get here simply because the circumstances of her title shot changed.
"People are going to [complain], and people are going to comment because that's their job. That's what they live off of. They're commenting and offering their takes. That's what they do for a living," Silva said. "Our job is not to listen to that.
"[This is] what I've always wanted. It's what I dreamed of. It's what I've worked for, and I was put in a position to win. … If a [champion like Shevchenko] wants to move on to another division or cannot fight at that moment, that's something that that person is going to have to deal with. All we can do is win championships, and the belt is in front of us. So I don't have to worry about any of that. People are going to say it anyway."
The noise has been loud ahead of UFC 332. For Wang, 34, she's needed to raise her guard more than usual thanks to her being the wild-card in this flyweight title equation. UFC officials awarding her the opportunity over other higher-ranked contenders, without question, has only added fuel to the criticism already lit under this main event.
But Wang's four-fight win streak also put her on a trajectory to eventually close in on this moment, even if no one saw it coming this soon and in this fashion.
"I saw a few [comments], but I didn't look too deep into it," Wang said. "I think Saturday night, me and my opponent are going to go there and do our job and prove they are wrong.
"I don't think if Valentina is going to be there or not, it's going to make a difference for our division. Our division is the most competitive division, and it's an exciting division. I think we will keep the excitement going."
Ultimately, UFC 332 marks a new direction for flyweight, and as pushback of the event continues to mount, Silva and Wang appear content to channel any outside negativity into motivation to deliver. Not only on fight night, but beyond — Wang noted her goal is to excitingly win her way into the UFC Hall of Fame, with a future filled with title defenses.
Silva said it best, though. This is a new chapter in the UFC flyweight division's story — its 15th title fight, and one that could mark the beginning of an entirely different era from the history-making chapter that began with Shevchenko in December 2018.
"What I need to do is not let any of [the outside noise] bother me," Silva said. "They don't get to me. I'm here to do my job. I trained, and I put in the work to win fights and to be a champion. I'm going to do it regardless of whether people like it or not.
"It's new blood, it's a new moment. Valentina had her moment, [all] fighters have their moments. But this is the moment for Natalia to be a champion."