Silva and Wang Cong to fight for vacant UFC women's flyweight title

Natalia Silva and Wang Cong are scheduled to fight for the vacant UFC women's flyweight title on Saturday 3 October 2026. The bout is the main event of UFC 332 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, according to the BBC and ESPN.

The title is vacant because Valentina Shevchenko vacated the belt in September due to injury, both outlets report. ESPN describes the injury as undisclosed.

Silva is 29 and has an eight-fight winning streak in the UFC. Wang is 34 and enters on a four-fight winning streak. She fought Tracy Cortez in July.

What the outlets report

According to ESPN, Silva is undefeated in the UFC, and her most recent win was a unanimous decision over former two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas. ESPN also reports that Wang beat Cortez at UFC 329 and that each win in her streak came by unanimous decision.

According to the BBC, Silva is number one in the UFC's flyweight rankings and Wang is sixth. ESPN places Silva at No. 2 in its own flyweight ranking, which is a separate system. The BBC reports that Silva is on a 14-fight win streak across different promotions and is the favourite. It adds that she had been set to face Shevchenko before that bout was cancelled.

The BBC reports this is the first women's main event in the UFC since Mackenzie Dern beat Amanda Ribas in January 2025. It says two women last headlined a numbered UFC event in June 2023, in a bout won by Amanda Nunes. If Wang wins, she would become the second Chinese UFC champion after Zhang Weili, according to the BBC.

ESPN reports the co-main event is Payton Talbott against Deiveson Figueiredo.

What each side says

The BBC reports that Wang dyes her hair green, paints her face white and draws a red grin before facing opponents. Wang says the persona comes from the joker playing card, not the Batman villain. "It means the most powerful card, so I want to be the most powerful," she told BBC Sport.

On her selection, the BBC quoted Wang as saying: "To be honest I was a little bit surprised but if you see the rankings, the girls ranked higher than me have either a fight booked or they have just fought."

Some fans on social media criticised the event and called for a main event featuring fighters such as Jiri Prochazka, Ciryl Gane and Alex Pereira, according to the BBC. The BBC quoted Wang as responding: "I've got nothing to say right now. After my fight I think they will shut up."

What the reports do not include

The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not include comment from Silva, the UFC or Shevchenko. They do not include the UFC's explanation for choosing Wang. The scale of the fan criticism is not quantified, and no critic is named.

Analysis

The fight fills a title left open by injury rather than by a result in the cage, so the winner's standing may depend partly on what Shevchenko does next. The reports do not describe her injury or any plans to return. A Silva win would match her reported status as favourite and top-ranked contender. A Wang win would, according to the BBC, give China its second UFC champion, which Wang says could encourage more Chinese athletes to try the sport. With no explanation from the UFC in the reports, the reasoning behind the matchup rests on Wang's own account.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.