UFC 332: Injured Valentina Shevchenko vacates title, Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong headlines for vacant belt

Valentina Shevchenko, the reigning UFC women's flyweight champion, has vacated her title due to an undisclosed injury. The injury is expected to sideline her for a year, according to UFC's announcement. As a consequence, a vacant title bout between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong has been confirmed as the main event for UFC 332.

Shevchenko, a two-time UFC champion and widely regarded as the best fighter in women's flyweight history, had her reign begin in 2024 with a victory over Alexa Grasso. She then went on to defend her title in 2025 against Manon Fiorot and Zhang Weili. She was awarded the Uncrowned 2025 Women's Fighter of the Year, but has been out of action since her win over Zhang in November.

Taking her place are Natalia Silva and Wang Cong. Both fighters are ranked within the top six of UFC's Meta-generated women's flyweight rankings. Silva, 29, has won all eight of her UFC fights, including three victories over former champions such as Jéssica Andrade, Alexa Grasso, and Rose Namajunas. Cong, 34, has secured five wins out of six UFC bouts, most recently defeating Tracy Cortez at UFC 329 in July. Her previous loss came from a submission defeat to Gabriella Fernandes in 2024.

UFC 322 is scheduled to take place on October 3 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The updated fight card includes a women's flyweight championship bout between Silva and Cong, a bantamweight fight between Deiveson Figueiredo and Payton Talbott, a heavyweight clash between Johnny Walker and Mick Parkin, a middleweight bout between Marvin Vettori and Ismail Naurdiev, another middleweight contest between Ateba Gautier and Roman Kopylov, a flyweight match-up between Imanol Rodríguez and Alden Coria, a middleweight fight between Damian Pinas and Andrey Pulyaev, and a welterweight bout between Court McGee and Eric Nolan.