Natalia Silva, who overhauled her game plan inside 30 days and arrives on a 14-fight winning streak, clashed with China's Wang Cong in a charged atmosphere at the UFC 332 press conference in Salt Lake City. The pair will fight for the vacant women's flyweight title after shoulder and back injuries forced Valentina Shevchenko to give up the belt. Ahead of the event at the Delta Center, the 34-year-old Wang publicly took aim at her Brazilian opponent for declining to help promote the fight and build the hype. "I had my plan, let's heat up the faceoff for the ceremonial weigh-ins, but she didn't take a look at it," Wang complained. "We need to bring the money to the show. We need make people hyped. She should do that," the Chinese fighter added.
The Brazilian stuck to her pragmatic stance and met her opponent's theatrics with an icy rebuff. "If she wants to get cute, she can get cute by herself," Silva told the press conference bluntly. "I'm not here to play. This is my dream, I'm here to fight. I'm here to enjoy it," she explained. The battle lines are drawn, and expectations could hardly be higher. Silva, 29, is 8-0 in the UFC and boasts wins over former champions Rose Namajunas, Jessica Andrade and Alexa Grasso. In the opposite corner stands Wang, 10-1 in mixed martial arts and 5-1 in the UFC, who beat Shevchenko herself in a kickboxing bout in 2015. Critics have questioned her sixth-place ranking and the speed of her route to a title shot, yet Wang is unfazed. "This fight is definitely going to be exciting. We're going to use this performance to shut the critics up," she insisted. A 25-minute marathon and the accuracy of the strikes landed inside the Octagon will decide the five-round title fight at 125lb.
