UFC 332 in Salt Lake City was one of those sleeper cards that came with little hype but delivered far beyond any expectations. Multiple records were broken on Saturday night: most knockouts in a single UFC events (11), most first round knockouts (9), and most knockdowns (16).
But for a card that was big on excitement and action, the main event ended up dragging. Natalia Silva and Wang Cong were matched together to compete for the vacant women’s flyweight championship with the expectation that their
pairing would produce fireworks. Instead, it was a relatively dull affair that had Utah fans booing and leaving the arena early.
If Silva vs. Wang wasn’t under a main event spotlight, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about it. It wasn’t terrible. It just wasn’t good, something which has become a longstanding trend with women’s fights in the UFC. Wang kept clinching instead of stringing together combos. Silva got on her bike as soon as she thought she had three rounds on the scorecards.
Silva emerged the champion, but it wasn’t a performance that will put her on anyone’s radar.
We’ve seen a string of similar disappointments lately. Ailin Perez vs. Norma Dumont had genuine heat, but ended up a half baked dud in the cage. Women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern’s title defense against Gillian Robertson was a five round drag. There’s no denying Valentina Shevchenko’s talent, but her fights were so brutally dull that Silva vs. Wang was heralded as a potential shot in the arm for her division when she relinquished her title due to injury.
It’s not all bad. Alexa Grasso vs. Manon Fiorot stood out even on a strong Noche UFC card as a proper scrap. Casey O’Neill has returned from injuries with two slick first round finishes in 2026. And we have Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes to look forward to at UFC 334 in November. But these are pinpoints of positivity under a blanket of negativity. The fanbase is turning against women’s MMA, and can you really blame them given the last year we’ve witnessed?
Things can turn around. We remember when flyweight was maligned as a boring division. Hell, go back far enough and the general opinion was that lightweight MMA wasn’t worth watching because 155ers were incapable of scoring knockouts. That wasn’t true about flyweight or lightweight, but the perception was there — just like there’s a perception now with the women that comes from a few too many tame performances.
What will get women’s MMA out of its funk? Nunes vs. Harrison could get things started. Some more activity from remaining stars like Zhang Weili would be nice. A few more powerful prospects on the ups, perhaps? And matchmaking from the UFC that suggests the divisions have a coherent direction. It’s all gotta pay off in the cage, though. Unless we start getting more barnburners, WMMA’s reputation is going to keep sliding backwards.
