Less than four weeks before the event, UFC 332 finally has its main event. The card takes place October 3 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and will be headlined by Natalia Silva and Wang Cong fighting for the vacant UFC women's flyweight championship.
The announcement came Saturday during the UFC Fight Night Paris broadcast, ending weeks of uncertainty surrounding one of the promotion's upcoming numbered events. UFC 332 will air on CBS and Paramount+, with the women's flyweight championship fight occupying the top spot on the card.
The championship became vacant because of an injury to longtime champion Valentina Shevchenko. The UFC revealed that Shevchenko is expected to be sidelined for approximately a year, making it impractical for the division to remain without an active champion for that length of time. Shevchenko's second championship reign therefore comes to an end while she recovers.
Reports earlier in the week had pointed toward Shevchenko defending the championship against Silva at UFC 332. Once Shevchenko's injury became known, attention quickly shifted toward a possible Silva-Wang matchup, initially discussed as a fight for an interim championship.
The UFC ultimately went further. Instead of creating an interim belt, the promotion made the women's flyweight championship vacant and placed the undisputed title on the line between Silva and Wang.
That decision dramatically raises the stakes for both fighters.
Silva enters the championship opportunity with a 20-5-1 professional record and an 8-0 record inside the UFC. The Brazilian has emerged as one of the division's most consistent fighters, putting together a long winning streak and defeating several recognizable names on her way toward the top of the rankings. Her recent victories include wins over Rose Namajunas, Alexa Grasso and Jessica Andrade.
Silva has developed into a difficult opponent because of her movement, striking activity and ability to maintain pressure without becoming reckless. She has increasingly looked like a fighter capable of competing for a championship, and UFC 332 will give her the opportunity to prove it over five rounds.
Wang presents a very different story.
The Chinese fighter has considerably less professional MMA experience than Silva, carrying a 10-1 record, but she entered mixed martial arts after establishing herself as an accomplished striker. She has won four consecutive UFC fights since suffering the only loss of her MMA career in November 2024.
Wang's background could make the championship fight particularly interesting on the feet. Both fighters are comfortable moving forward, but they approach striking differently. Silva tends to rely heavily on activity, movement and volume, while Wang's experience in kickboxing gives her a more measured and technical striking style.
There is also an unusual connection between Wang and the former champion.
Wang defeated Shevchenko by unanimous decision in a kickboxing match at Kunlun Fight 33 in China on October 31, 2015. The fight took place before Wang entered the UFC and shortly before Shevchenko began her UFC career. The two women have never fought each other under mixed martial arts rules.
That history creates an intriguing possibility if Wang wins the championship and Shevchenko eventually returns.
Shevchenko could come back to challenge a woman who defeated her in another combat sport more than a decade earlier. If Silva wins, the UFC could instead return to the championship matchup it had been considering before Shevchenko's injury.
For now, however, Shevchenko's immediate concern is recovery. There is no firm date for her return, and a layoff approaching a year could keep her out of competition well into 2027.
The UFC 332 announcement also solves a problem that had been hanging over the Salt Lake City event.
Numbered UFC cards traditionally feature at least one major championship fight or a bout involving one of the promotion's biggest stars. UFC 332 had remained without a confirmed main event unusually close to fight night, leading to speculation about what the promotion might do.
The rest of the announced lineup contains several recognizable fighters but lacks the kind of established superstar matchup normally associated with the top of a major numbered event.
Former flyweight and bantamweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo is scheduled to face Payton Talbott at bantamweight. Johnny Walker is expected to fight Mick Parkin at heavyweight, while veteran lightweight King Green will meet Esteban Ribovics.
Other scheduled bouts include Khaos Williams against Roberto Soldić, Roman Kopylov against Ateba Gautier, Marvin Vettori against Ismail Naurdiev and Rafael dos Anjos against Alexander Hernandez. The order of the fights below the main event remains subject to change.
That lineup has drawn criticism from some MMA observers who believe it lacks the depth typically expected from a numbered UFC event. Silva and Wang are highly skilled fighters, but neither has yet established the mainstream name recognition of stars who have traditionally driven large audiences for UFC championship cards.
Predictions that UFC 332 could become one of the less-watched numbered events of the early Paramount+ era remain speculation, however. The event has not happened, and actual audience figures will depend on promotion, competition from other programming and fan interest in the championship matchup.
The situation illustrates a broader challenge for the UFC. Injuries can quickly alter major cards, particularly when champions are involved. A promotion can spend months developing a marquee matchup only to have the entire event reshaped when one fighter becomes unavailable.
Shevchenko's withdrawal appears to have done exactly that.
There had also been speculation that former light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira could appear at UFC 332 against undefeated heavyweight Josh Hokit. No credible report established that the matchup had been formally booked, and the announcement of Silva-Wang as the main event effectively ended speculation that Pereira-Hokit would headline the Salt Lake City card.
The Pereira-Hokit matchup remains interesting because tension between the fighters has been building throughout 2026.
Hokit repeatedly targeted Pereira verbally during UFC promotional events and continued calling for a fight after stopping Derrick Lewis at UFC Freedom 250. Pereira has generally avoided engaging with Hokit, although the rivalry has become increasingly visible.
Pereira's coach and longtime training partner Glover Teixeira has publicly said he likes the matchup.
Teixeira said recently that he would like to see Pereira fight Hokit and predicted Pereira would knock him out in the first round. Teixeira views the matchup as a way for Pereira to rebuild momentum after his heavyweight loss to Ciryl Gane.
Pereira moved to heavyweight earlier this year seeking another championship opportunity but was stopped by Gane while competing for the interim heavyweight title. Gane's victory left him holding the interim belt while undisputed champion Tom Aspinall continued recovering from serious eye problems.
That has created another major storyline heading toward the end of 2026.
Aspinall and Gane fought at UFC 321 in October 2025, but the fight ended in a no contest after Aspinall suffered an eye injury. He subsequently underwent multiple procedures and spent much of 2026 recovering. Gane later defeated Pereira to become interim champion.
A rematch between Aspinall and Gane would unify the heavyweight championship and appears to be the logical next fight for both men if Aspinall receives all necessary medical clearance.
UFC 334, scheduled for November 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York, has been mentioned as a possible destination for that fight, but the matchup has not officially been announced. Likewise, Pereira against Hokit has been suggested as a potential supporting fight rather than confirmed by the UFC.
That distinction is important because much of the discussion surrounding the UFC's late-2026 schedule remains speculative.
What is official is UFC 332.
Natalia Silva and Wang Cong will meet October 3 in Salt Lake City with the undisputed women's flyweight championship at stake. Silva has spent years climbing the division without losing a UFC fight, while Wang has advanced rapidly enough to reach a championship opportunity with only 11 professional MMA bouts to her name.
For Silva, victory would complete her rise from contender to champion and establish her as the woman to beat at 125 pounds.
For Wang, winning would represent one of the fastest climbs to a UFC championship in recent memory and could set up one of the division's most unusual future storylines — an MMA championship fight against Shevchenko, more than a decade after Wang defeated her in kickboxing.
The circumstances may not be what the UFC originally planned for Salt Lake City, but the promotion now has a championship main event and a new chapter beginning in a division that Shevchenko has dominated for much of the past decade.
UFC 332 takes place Saturday, October 3, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, with Silva and Wang fighting for the vacant UFC women's flyweight championship.