The average UFC fan isn’t thrilled about the UFC 332 main event between Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong.
Cong is stepping in for the injured Valentina Shevchenko, who vacated her title after a nasty shoulder injury about a month ago. Though neither woman is a superstar and it’s not the fight people were expecting to headline in Salt Lake City, both Silva and Cong have fan-friendly striking styles and should make for an entertaining title clash.
See that? That’s an example of selling — also known as promoting
— a fight, which does take a certain amount of general knowledge about the athletes involved. As UFC CEO and former promotional president, Dana White’s job is to convince people that events headlined by fighters like Wang Cong are worth watching.
Sadly, White doesn’t seem to know much about China’s Cong, a highly-ranked contender with six UFC bouts under her belt. In the last 24 hours, White has gaffed blundered twice while discussing “The Joker.” Firstly, he attributed three victories of her opponent to Cong, though he did at least remember her history with Shevchenko.
“Rankings are well … If you look at what she’s done in her body of work,” White explained to justify Cong’s title shot. “She’s 10-1. I was just saying, she beat Rose Namajunas, she beat [Jessica] Andrade, she beat [Alexa] Grasso. And, she beat Valentina Shevchenko in a kickboxing match. As you look through the roster and look at who Shevchenko has beat and cleaned out, she’s the one who should be fighting on Saturday night.“
To reiterate, Natalia Silva is the woman who defeated Namajunas, Andrade, and Grasso in her current win streak. Cong, conversely, holds notable wins over the likes of Tracy Cortez and Ariane de Silva, which is far from the same resume.
On the bright side, Cong is genuinely 10-1 as a professional.
At Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, White once again struggled to promote his headliner. When asked why Cong deserved the shot a second time, White did not make the same mistake twice. Instead, he gave a complete non-answer!
White responded, “We’re always trying to find out who the best is. That’s what we care about. In making this fight, Wang was the decision we made. Natalia obviously on a 14-fight win streak, we’ll see.”
Maybe White just has boxing on the brain? Between his efforts to promote boxing, Power Slap, and the UFC, White may be spread a little thin nowadays. At a minimum, White might want to go on YouTube and watch a Wang Cong highlight reel between now and fight night, because there’s a reasonable chance “Joker” walks away with a UFC title.
