At UFC 332 this Saturday, the UFC dares to ask the question: what exactly is the lowest standard the fanbase will tolerate?
With the UFC focused on its end-of-year schedule, UFC 332 appears to have been the forgotten event, headlined by a last-minute vacant title matchup between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong, after Valentina Shevchenko was forced out due to injury. To be frank, given Shevchenko’s stature in the division, this “undisputed” title feels extremely hollow, even more so considering that Wang leapfrogged several more deserving contenders to get her opportunity.
On top of that, while the rest of the UFC 332 card could be fun, the event appears low on the sort of high-stakes matchups fans have come to expect from numbered UFC events. So, before the first start flying on Saturday, MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew, Mike Heck, and Damon Martin circled the wagons to talk about an event that some are calling the worst numbered UFC event in modern history.
1. Should this be a numbered UFC event?
Heck: 10 years ago, this question would be laughable, as there would be absolutely no world that the UFC would attempt to charge people money for this. From about 2020-2024, this would still create some laughs, but now — especially in the new Paramount era — this will not be the last time an event like this will have a number attached to it.
The main event is a bit of a joke because there’s no world where Wang Cong should be in this fight. Beating a way past prime Tracy Cortez got her this shot, while Manon Fiorot, Alexa Grasso, and Erin Blanchfield, who have recently fought or are scheduled to fight right after UFC 332, all had a much, much better case. We know what this is, friends. This is the UFC, once again, trying to make fetch happen by doing everything in their power to book a past non-UFC matchup for a rematch in the octagon with Wang and Valentina Shevchenko.
But all in all, this isn’t a horrible UFC card, it’s just the number that makes it strange. Very few will watch, but those who do, I think they’ll have a decent time doing so.
Meshew: Look, we all know why this is a PPV event (I’m still calling it PPV because it’s easier, and because outside of the United States, people do still have to pay for these events), and it’s not respect for the women’s flyweight title. Utah paid for a numbered event, so they’re gonna get one, come hell or high water.
But if we set aside the business incentives, OBVIOUSLY this should be turned into UFC Fight Night Salt Lake City. If we were in the PPV era, this card would draw maybe 100,000 buys, and I cannot imagine that the parts of the world that still have to pay for events are going to flock to this one.
If this was just a Fight Night card, no one would care at all. In fact, it would be a fine Fight Night card, with the caveat that the main event is an extremely paper title. But because it’s a PPV card — a premier event — it’s held to a higher standard, one that, frankly, it doesn’t come close to living up to.
Martin: Hell to the no.
By any standard metric you could calculate for a card that’s considered a “pay-per-view” level event, UFC 332 absolutely does not qualify. The main event for the women’s flyweight title barely qualifies as a main event for a UFC Fight Night card, much less a “numbered” show that’s supposed to serve as one of the marquee events of the year. Natalia Silva is a good fighter, and maybe she should be next in line for a title shot, but it’s been over two years since she managed to get a finish, and her highest-profile win came against Rose Namajunas back in January.
And truth be told, I remember nothing about that fight or win for Silva.
Toss on Wang Cong, who is getting this title shot under the premise that she has a win in kickboxing over Valentina Shevchenko, and this just boils down to a bad fight. The rest of the card isn’t much better, but the UFC’s selling point is that you’re not paying extra to get access to this card if you’re already subscribed to Paramount+. And the UFC isn’t wrong selling the card that way because could you possibly imagine somebody putting down $80 to watch this?
2. Where will the winner of Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong rank on the all-time list of UFC champions?
Heck: Now, when I call back to this main event, Natalia Silva 1,000 percent earned her opportunity to be in a title fight, and while I would’ve picked Shevchenko to beat her, Silva actually matches up with Shevchenko pretty well. Silva’s movement, range, and overall point-fighting striking is pretty darn good, plus her takedown defense is wildly underrated. Shevchenko would probably outmuscle her enough to get the win.
Wang, even though she needed at least two more wins to be in this spot, obviously wasn’t going to turn this down. It’s a huge opportunity. Of course, the winner is not in the upper echelon of all-time champs, but it’s certainly not the worst. In fact, it wouldn’t even be the worst in the division’s history. But regardless of the accomplishment, in a world where “The Bullet” is still on the UFC roster and (as of now) still exists in this division, the championship will feel a bit papery until Shevchenko fights the winner should she want to. It’s not being disrespectful; it’s simply facts.
Meshew: Tied at the very bottom, with the caveat that it could rise a few ranks.
In my estimation, the worst “undisputed” champions in modern UFC history are Nicco Montaño and Germaine de Randamie.
Montaño won the inaugural UFC flyweight title by winning The Ultimate Fighter, but she didn’t even beat the person she was supposed to fight to do so, as Sijara Eubanks was forced out of the fight due to a failed weight cut. Everyone alive knew that Shevchenko should’ve been involved in the inaugural fight, and then after winning the title, Montaño had her own weight-cutting issues and got stripped. Montaño is a UFC champion only in the most technical terms of the word.
De Randamie’s “featherweight title reign” is similarly fraudulent. De Randamie only fought for the title in the first place because the UFC couldn’t quite get the Cris Cyborg situation sorted, and they were having issues finding main events for PPVs (sound familiar?), so GDR fought Holly Holm. Two career bantamweights fighting for a title at featherweight means about as much as a promise from a used car salesman, and the fact that GDR cheated profusely during the fight didn’t make it any better. But to cap it all off, de Randamie just straight up ducked Cyborg, choosing to relinquish the belt rather than fight her.
The situation is obviously pretty similar to the two above, and if Silva or Wang win and then never fight Shevchenko, they’ll be right in that mix at the bottom. However, if Saturday’s winner goes on to defend the belt a few times and carve out a legacy, we’ll view this as a bad start to a legitimate title reign.
Martin: Near or at the bottom because either Silva or Wang will be holding onto a title that actually belongs to one of the most dominant champions in UFC history, Valentina Shevchenko.
Arguments can be made across several divisions whether or not the current champion is actually “undisputed.” Cyril Gane and Josh Hokit are about to battle for an “undisputed” title that Tom Aspinall never actually lost. Or if you really want to get technical, Aspinall never went through Jon Jones and perhaps that title is actually disputed? In the welterweight division, top contenders spent years trying to coax Georges St-Pierre out of retirement, because he never actually lost his title, and the new champions wanted the chance to solidify their claim by beating the greatest 170-pounder of all time.
It can get a little ridiculous when you really start digging into the history of each division, but in the current landscape of the UFC, Shevchenko is arguably the most dominant, well-established champion on the entire roster, and now two people are competing for her title. It’s pretty bad.
3. What undercard fight has your attention?
Heck: The correct answer has to be Roberto Soldic’s debut, but Ateba Gautier vs. Roman Kopylov is the fight I have the most questions about. Gautier is someone with a super high ceiling and a guy the UFC wants to push, but this is a BIG jump up in competition for him. Kopylov is a solid hand and a tough out for this division and certainly the toughest fight of Gautier’s career by a big stretch. But if he can go out there and clobber a veteran hard out like Kopylov, it will tell me a lot, and the UFC will most certainly give him a ranked guy next.
If he can’t, that’s OK. Gautier is 24 and will need a little more seasoning and development, but a loss doesn’t hurt him too much here.
Martin: The lightweight fight between King Green and Esteban Ribovics has legit “Fight of the Year” credentials, and this one could be pure mayhem whether it lasts 15 seconds or 15 minutes. At 40, King Green is on a pretty incredible run with four wins in a row and three finishes, and while Ribovics doesn’t have nearly the same level of experience, he’s put on three Fight of the Nights, and he’s definitely one of those “go big or go home” kind of fighters.
If you’re looking for an early contender for show stealer of the year, King Green vs. Estevan Ribovics gets my vote, and that’s what one I’m most excited about on Saturday.
Meshew: The fights mentioned above are very good choices — probably more correct choices —, but as I stare at this card, I cannot help but have a dark fascination with Rafael dos Anjos vs. Alexander Hernandez. RDA is a former champion and should probably go in the Hall of Fame one day, and yet, the last five years of his career have been incredibly forgettable. He bounced between weight classes, lost a lot, and even looking at his resumé, I can’t really remember what happened in any of these fights.
And now, after two years out of the cage, he’s coming back to fight Alexander Hernandez? What’s going on here? I could have sworn RDA retired. Or did I imagine that, too? It all feels vaguely like I’m in some sci-fi thriller, and I can’t help but be fascinated by what it all means. Honestly, it’s the perfect fight for this event, which is doomed to be forgotten almost as soon as it happens.
