Natalia Silva vs Wang Cong is being called the worst main event ever, and the numbers push back

Natalia Silva vs Wang Cong will headline UFC 332 on October 3 in Salt Lake City, and the loudest reaction so far has been outrage. Critics say a women’s flyweight title fight has no business topping a numbered card, and one analyst called it the worst main event in the sport’s history. The fight itself, and the data behind it, tell a more interesting story.

Key takeaways

Natalia Silva vs Wang Cong headlines UFC 332 on October 3 in Salt Lake City for the vacant women's flyweight title, the promotion's first numbered card to air on CBS.
The booking drew heavy criticism, with analyst Brendan Schaub calling it the worst main event in MMA history, aimed mainly at challenger Wang Cong's résumé.
The numbers complicate the outrage: Silva is 8-0 in the UFC with wins over three former champions, while Wang Cong is 10-1 and sits inside our flyweight top 15.

Why the UFC 332 main event is getting torn apart

A vacant belt and an angry timeline

The fight exists because of an injury. Valentina Shevchenko was forced to vacate the women’s flyweight title, sidelined for what could be up to a year, and the promotion needed a new headliner for a card it had already promised to CBS. This booking is the answer, and not everyone is applauding.

Part of the complaint is the slot. A women’s flyweight title fight topping a numbered event, on network television, is a booking the UFC would not have made a few years ago. For a section of fans, the marquee feels too small for the building.

The analyst who set the tone

The criticism found its sharpest voice in Brendan Schaub, who did not hedge. His issue, he said, is mainly with the challenger: Wang Cong’s most notable win is a decision over Tracy Cortez, and that, to him, is thin for a title headliner. The clip traveled fast, and “worst main event ever” became the framing of the week.

What the numbers say about Natalia Silva vs Wang Cong

Silva is not the problem

Start with the favorite. Natalia Silva is 8-0 inside the UFC and ranked the number one flyweight contender, and she did not get there against filler. Her recent wins include former champions Rose Namajunas, Alexa Grasso and Jessica Andrade. That is a brutal run, cleared without a loss. By any measure, she has earned a belt.

Her game backs the résumé. Silva is fast, precise and comfortable finishing fights, the kind of striker who looks a level above the division around her. Tellingly, the outrage is almost never about her.

The challenger our rankings actually rate

Wang Cong is where the argument lives, and the data cuts both ways. “The Joker” is 10-1 as a pro, 5-1 in the UFC, and her win over Tracy Cortez came against a ranked contender, not a nobody. Our rankings place her 11th at flyweight and 20th pound-for-pound, with a fighter rating of 73. That is a real top-15 fighter getting a title shot early, not an unranked name pulled off the street.

So the honest read sits between the extremes. This is not the worst main event ever; it is an elite, unbeaten favorite against a dangerous challenger who is a step behind the division’s very best. That is a normal title fight, dressed in an unusually big slot.

This is hands down, and I'm not exaggerating, the worst main event in MMA history.
— Brendan Schaub

October 3 in Salt Lake City, with a real belt on the line

More than the headline

Lost in the noise is a card that holds up. The co-main event pits Payton Talbott against former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, a genuine crossroads bantamweight fight, and the rest of the lineup is built to move. Whatever the marquee’s prestige, this is not a quiet night.

And the stakes at the top are real. Someone leaves Salt Lake City as the women’s flyweight champion, on the promotion’s first numbered card to reach a network audience on CBS. A new champion in front of the biggest television window the division has ever had is not nothing, whatever the analysts say.

Judge the fight with the real numbers

The FightHub app carries Wang Cong’s full record, the live women’s flyweight rankings and the finish rates that decide fights like this one, updated as October 3 approaches. Download it and make up your own mind before the first bell.