Women’s flyweight has a new queen in the UFC, and her name is Natalia Silva.
With Valentina Shevchenko on the sidelines with injury, Silva defeated Wang Cong in the main event of UFC 332 to claim the vacant championship.
Silva got off to a strong start in round one, as her striking speed gave Cong issues. Silva worked combinations and landed a couple of strong strikes to the head in that first frame, even tripping Cong up at one point and landing strikes from up top.
Silva continued to bother Cong with her speed in round two, eventually rocking her with a front-leg high kick that cracked Cong. Silva then scored her second takedown of the fight here, smothering Cong with pressure despite a desperation armbar hunt from Cong.
Round three proved to be a quieter frame, as Silva’s speed appeared to slow down. She was, however, still landing at a more consistent and more effective rate than Cong. Cong, however, did notably land a kick to the body in the closing seconds.
Cong tried to get inside and pushed the pace a little more in round four, getting inside and pushing Silva to the fence while landing a couple of knees to the body. Cong was able to open a cut under one of Silva’s eyes; however, Silva continued to have her moments, and she scored another takedown on Cong. She added a spinning back kick when the fight returned to the feet.
Cong looked to tie Silva up and slow down her offense in the final round, but Silva’s energy was still present. But Cong connected on a left hook late in the round, followed by a right hand, both of which seemed to do damage to Silva. Cong tried to press for a finish in the closing seconds, but it was not to be.
Silva has now won 15 straight and stays undefeated in the UFC. She has not lost a fight since being defeated by Marina Rodriguez in Thunder Fight in December 2017. She entered this fight off three straight victories over former world champions in Jessica Andrade, Alexa Grasso, and Rose Namajunas.
