Natalia Silva is the new UFC women’s flyweight champion.
Or is she?
On Saturday night in Salt Lake City, Silva used her trademark style to edge out Wang Cong over 25 minutes to claim the vacant women’s 125-pound title. But though Silva is undefeated in the UFC and on an impressive win streak, does she really deserve to be called the flyweight champion, or is she merely a placeholder until Valentina Shevchenko — divisional GOAT and future Hall of Famer — returns?
We rounded up the MMA Fighting crew to
discuss this very thing, along with all the other major storylines coming out of UFC 332.
1. Is Natalia Silva the true UFC flyweight champion?
Heck: I mean, c’mon!
As the creator of the Natty Ice nickname, even I can’t justify a yes answer here. Still, she was the fighter who deserved to have her day in court against Valentina Shevchenko, and now that fight just added a little bit of extra with Val chasing.
But let’s be perfectly clear — there’s no world where I’m jumping Silva over Shevchenko in the rankings. Congratulations to Silva; she earned her way to a title shot, and will go down in history as a world champion. But in a world where Shevchenko exists, we can’t really bestow the “undisputed” moniker upon this reign.
Lee: Hahahahahahahahaha
Oh, this is a serious question?
All due credit to Silva, who put on a fine performance on Saturday to claim the vacant belt, but Shevchenko hasn’t even been out for a year yet, and last I checked, she didn’t lose her second title in the cage. Going by our own rankings system, Shevchenko would need to be out of action for another seven months before we removed her from the top spot, and I doubt Silva defends the title before Shevchenko comes back.
I get it; the question is whether Silva is a true UFC champion, and by the strictest definition she is, but we can’t realistically call her the best woman in the world at 125 pounds.
Martin:
Meshew: Wow, all of my colleagues are really down on this very important and very serious title that is absolutely not shambolic in any way…
Nevertheless, I will play the contrarian and disagree: Silva is the true flyweight champion, because Valentina Shevchenko isn’t coming back.
Honestly, I’m not even sure I believe this anymore, and Shevchenko certainly isn’t acting like she’s gone forever, but I see no good reason for “Bullet” to return to flyweight. She’s already lapped the division to such an extent that, more than likely, no one will ever catch up to her various title records.
Eventually someone will listen to me and realize that Shevchenko’s future is in fighting the winner of Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes, because there is literally no one else for them to fight, and it will save all three women’s weight classes.
2. Is Payton Talbot a serious threat at 135 pounds?
Heck: It’s a super tough question, isn’t it? Not that long ago, he was getting the boots put to him by Raoni Barcelos (which is not a knock in ANY WAY), but bounced back from that with his career-best win, and then beat two guys who were way past their expiration date. Outside of injuring himself, Talbott had zero chance of losing either of those fights.
Ask me after his next fight — whether he gets Sandhagen, or Nurmagomedov, or Bautista, somebody that actually has a chance of beating him. Talbott is certainly talented and has the tools to be a threat, but too early to tell.
Lee: I’m not convinced.
Sure, Talbott passes the eye test in a big way, so the potential is clearly there for him to develop into a champion someday. Someday. Right now, I wouldn’t comfortably pick him to beat anyone in the top 10, and that includes his preferred callout, Sean O’Malley. If that gets booked anytime soon, O’Malley rinses him.
Sorry, but beating up smaller dudes on losing streaks doesn’t wow me, even if we’re talking about former champions Figueiredo and Cejudo. Kudos to Talbott for taking care of business, but he’s still a ways away from being a true contender.
Martin: It sure looks that way, but he has to get through a higher level of opponent before we know for sure.
Talbott can now tout that he took out two former UFC champions in a row after thoroughly dominating Henry Cejudo and Deiveson Figueiredo in back-to-back fights. The problem is Cejudo was on his way out of the sport when he fought Talbott, and Figueiredo has looked like a shell of himself lately while competing as a very undersized bantamweight.
Talbott has the size, speed, and power to become an elite 135-pounder, but until he actually beats someone who doesn’t look like they are one fight away from retirement, he’s going to remain a prospect and not a contender.
Meshew: Yes, but not because he beat a Deiveson Figueiredo who did not seem to care much. We all love Figgy, but the game ain’t in him no more.
Still, Talbott is a terrific prospect who is developing into a legit contender. He seems to have learned a lot from the Raoni Barcelos loss, and his speed, athleticism, and striking acumen mean he’ll be a tough out for just about anyone in the division, assuming he continues to improve.
Bantamweight is a great division, and it’s impossible to know who will end up making it to the top — heck, Song Yadong is only just now putting it together, and he’s been around for ages. But Talbott has all the signs of fighting for a belt one day, and maybe winning it.
3. Which prospect from this card do you think has the highest ceiling?
Heck: Despite having further questions, I’ll still lean Talbott.
The fighting skills are one thing, and he has them. The UFC wanting to push him is another thing; he has that also. Having charisma and being interesting is another big thing, and he has those qualities as well.
It’s the easy answer, as he’s furthest along, and a guy who the UFC will likely give multiple chances to. From all of the guys on this list, Talbott, to me, has the best chance of winning a title.
Lee: Anthony Wint, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.
The matchmakers have done a fine job of building Wint up, booking him for his third fight in less than eight weeks, and against opposition the athletically gifted heavyweight can shine against. After blitzing Lucas Armand on Saturday, the undefeated Wint cut an assured and steady post-fight promo and later charmed reporters during his backstage scrum. He’s making all the right moves, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s an absolute truck of a human being.
Now get this man to Madison Square Garden.
Martin: I mean, the world loves knockouts, and Damian Pinas delivered one of the most devastating finishes thus far in 2026 with his stunning uppercut to demolish Andrey Pulyaev at UFC 332.
Pinas really does have that mythical “death touch” where he just needs one shot to land, and you’re not getting up again. Now he’s only 3-0 in the UFC, so he doesn’t have that much experience just yet, but he seems like he’s ready to take the next step in competition. Hopefully, the UFC brings him along slowly but surely so Pinas could potentially develop into a threat in the top 10 at middleweight.
Meshew: Damon stole my choice, but that’s probably for the best. I don’t think I could have resisted making 41 Pinas jokes in two paragraphs. Fortunately, there’s another super prospect on this card, and a man who arguably had the most impressive win on Saturday, given that he had a tough opponent and not a squash match in front of him: Imanol Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was one of four fighters I graded as a five-star prospect coming off last season’s Contender Series (Pinas was another), where I comped him to a flyweight Wanderlei Silva. I think Alden Coria might agree with that assessment. Rodriguez is a superb athlete, trains at a great camp — who all speak the world of him — and he’s got that meanness to him that defines the best prospects in MMA. Men’s flyweight has quickly turned into a woodchipper of young talent, but Rodriguez is as good as any of this rising crop, and I think he will eventually be a legitimate title contender.
4. Who was the biggest winner at UFC 332?
Heck: Roman Kopylov went out there and did the damn thing.
Is there some bias here? Certainly. I put myself out there into a live microphone multiple times, picking Kopylov to win. But he did it in style by straight trucking Ateba Gautier, and was the only fighter on the card to win as an underdog. In this WWF Superstars-esque card of matchmaking, Kopylov gave us a result that was — at least, to most — somewhat surprising.
Lee: How good did it feel just to see Roberto Soldic fight again?
It’s easy to forget Soldic was once one of MMA’s hottest free agents back in 2021 when he was fresh off of a knockout over the legendary Mamed Khalidov that made Soldic a two-division KSW champion. What followed was a regrettable three-fight stint with ONE Championship, which saw Soldic sidelined for much of the past five years.
Finally in the UFC, Soldic didn’t add Khaos Williams to his collection of highlight-reel knockouts, but he showed the kind of grit and adaptability that made him a star in Poland, and could make him a champion again sooner than fans might expect.
Martin: It has to be Natalia Silva for no other reason than she became a UFC champion on Saturday — and that only happened because Valentina Shevchenko was injured.
Before giving up her belt, Shevchenko was arguably the most dominant champion on the entire UFC roster. She’d racked up eight total title defenses across two reigns. If Shevchenko was healthy, she’d easily be a 3-to-1 and maybe a 4-to-1 favorite over Silva. But bad luck befell Shevchenko’s latest title reign, so now Silva gets to hold the belt and play champion until the terrifying flyweight GOAT is back again.
Meshew: Part of me wanted to pick heavyweight Johnny Walker, because the man might have just rejuvenated his career, but there’s a much better answer. Because while Walker brought his career back from the brink, Court McGee literally came back from the dead — he was clinically deceased for eight minutes.
We all know the story by now, and McGee didn’t get his fairytale ending on Saturday, losing to Eric Nolan in the curtain-jerker, but man, some things are bigger than wins and losses. McGee will never go into the Hall of Fame, and he’s destined to be forgotten by most fans in a few years, but that is a man who never sold himself short, always came for a fight, and who nobody in the sport has a bad thing to say about. That’s exceedingly rare in MMA. It was nice that he got to go out in his home state, and they had a video package for him.
Good career, McGee.
5. Who was the biggest loser at UFC 332?
Heck: Even though he had zero chance to win, the answer is Deiveson Figueiredo.
I’ll start off by saying that Figgy deserves way more historical shine when it comes to the fan base. He’s a HUGE reason flyweight has thrived with a second chance at life, and his rivalry with Brandon Moreno helped make it one of the top-tier divisions in the sport.
Having said that, he had a horrible week. Figueiredo was giving off Jamahal Hill, UFC 300 vibes, and it was so disappointing. The Joshua Van stuff was utterly ridiculous, then adding that Talbott was an easy fight, and actually thanking the UFC for not giving him a harder matchup was difficult to watch.
If this is the final curtain for Figueiredo’s UFC run, it’s a pretty tough way to go.
Lee: It hurts me to say it, but Rafael dos Anjos might want to consider hanging it up after being knocked out by Alexander Hernandez.
Dos Anjos actually looked good in the first round of their fight, but then the reality of being almost 42 kicked in and he was caught and finished by his younger opponent. Afterwards, dos Anjos took off the gloves, hinting at retirement, but in the end choosing not to make that decision in the dim flicker of his fourth straight loss. He now finds himself in limbo, like so many greats, chasing a storybook ending that is rarely written in this business.
Martin: It’s hard to imagine anybody blowing a big spot quite like what happened to Ateba Gautier on Saturday.
At 24, Gautier seemed like the next big thing after he started his UFC career with five straight wins, and the promotion was very high on him. But Gautier got outclassed at UFC 332, with Roman Kopylov putting him away inside four minutes in the first round. Of course, Gautier is young enough that he can certainly bounce back from the loss and get better, but he had a real chance to steal the spotlight on Saturday, and instead he’s the only favorite on the entire card who lost to an underdog.
Meshew: It’s either the dozens of people who wanted to see Shevchenko fight Wang Cong in MMA — that dream is now dead — or Bruce Whitehead. “The Goose” took one of the most vicious low blows I’ve seen in a long time, and then after recovering, got summarily run over by Jacobe Smith. Smith ruined that man’s brain and his future progeny. Rude.
6. What’s your final, brief review of UFC 332?
Heck: EXACTLY what I expected it to be — UFC Squash Lake City.
Lee: Good, dumb fun, but please don’t confuse mismatches playing out as expected with actual card quality.
Martin: At least UFC 332 gave us some seriously violent finishes.
Meshew: This was candy: sure, it was fun and tasted good, but there was no real sustenance, and if you eat too much of it, you’ll rot your teeth. If you just want to focus on the record-breaking number of first-round finishes, please, by all means, enjoy. But at some point I need a card to not be filled with all 4-to-1 favorites or vanity titles.
