UFC 332: Silva vs. Wang Pre-Fight Analysis

UFC 332 on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City crowns a new women's flyweight champion. Valentina Shevchenko vacated the title with a back and shoulder ligament injury expected to keep her out for up to a year, and Natalia Silva meets Wang Cong for the belt over five rounds. It is also the first numbered event with its main card on CBS.

Underneath the title fight, the card runs on crossroads. Three fighters who have held or challenged for UFC gold arrive on long skids. Deiveson Figueiredo is 1-4 in his last five. Rafael Dos Anjos has lost three straight and has not fought in 707 days. Marvin Vettori has lost four in a row. Each faces a younger opponent with momentum.

At the other end, Lucas Armand, Anthony Romero, Roberto Soldic and Bruce Whitehead make their UFC debuts, and several more fighters carry fewer than 30 UFC minutes. Where a sample is that thin, this piece describes it rather than quoting rates off it. And Court McGee, a Utah native, fights for the last time.

Here is how the card reads, first fight to last.

Early Prelims

Court McGee vs. Eric Nolan, Welterweight

Court McGee's farewell comes at home. The Ultimate Fighter 11 winner is 41, 11-13 across 24 UFC bouts, and 1-4 in his last five. The win in that stretch came in this same building, a first-round rear-naked choke of Tim Means at UFC 307 in October 2024. He has been out 476 days since a decision loss to Michael Chiesa.

His game has always run through wrestling. He averages 1.78 takedowns per 15 minutes at 24 percent accuracy, with 70 percent takedown defense.

Eric Nolan, 29, is 0-2 in the UFC: a second-round rear-naked choke against Baisangur Susurkaev at middleweight, then a decision against Farman Hasanov. Across 22 UFC minutes, opponents have controlled him for roughly two thirds of his time in the cage. That is a small sample, but a consistent one.

McGee's three stoppage losses in the UFC all came by strikes, and Nolan is the taller man at 6'2". The fight asks whether Nolan can keep it standing long enough to test that.

Marvin Vettori vs. Ismail Naurdiev, Middleweight

Marvin Vettori, a former title challenger, has lost four straight: Jared Cannonier, Roman Dolidze, Brendan Allen and Brunno Ferreira, all by decision. This pairing was booked for June and cancelled when he broke a rib, and he has now been out 301 days.

The losses tell half the story. Vettori has never been knocked down in 18 UFC bouts, and all eight of his UFC losses went to the judges. He lands 4.74 significant strikes per minute, absorbs 4.55, and averages 1.41 takedowns per 15.

Ismail Naurdiev is 2-1 since returning to the UFC, most recently a first-round knockout of Ryan Loder in November 2025. He lands less, 3.66 per minute, but absorbs just 1.75, with 64 percent striking defense and 73 percent takedown defense. All three of his UFC losses were decisions as well.

Where Naurdiev has been exposed is on the mat. Opponents have controlled him for about a third of his UFC time. Two men who have never been stopped in the UFC, and the grappling minutes are where this one gets decided.

Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Alexander Hernandez, Lightweight

Rafael Dos Anjos is a former lightweight champion making his 50th professional start, at 41. He has lost three straight and has not fought in 707 days, since a first-round stoppage against Geoff Neal in October 2024 that came from a leg injury rather than strikes. His last win at lightweight was over Paul Felder in November 2020.

He is still a grappler first, averaging 1.95 takedowns per 15 minutes. Across 36 UFC bouts he has spent about a quarter of his cage time in control, and opponents have held him for nearly as long.

Alexander Hernandez, who turns 34 two days before the fight, had a four-fight win streak end against Rafa Garcia in April. Two of those four wins were knockouts, of Diego Ferreira and Chase Hooper. He lands 4.23 per minute and carries 68 percent takedown defense.

Dos Anjos beat Renato Moicano and beat Donald Cerrone twice. Hernandez lost to both. Those wins are years old, and 707 days is a long time away at 41.

Jacobe Smith vs. Bruce Whitehead, Welterweight

Jacobe Smith is 12-0 and 3-0 in the UFC, and none of the three went the distance: knockouts of Preston Parsons and Josiah Harrell, and a rear-naked choke of Niko Price. He took this bout on nine days' notice after a planned July fight with Kevin Holland fell through, and he has been out 224 days.

His 13 UFC minutes are too few for rates to mean much, but the shape is clear. He has landed every takedown he has attempted and spent close to half of his cage time in control.

Bruce Whitehead debuts at 8-2, 13 days after a 48-second knockout at Fury FC 124. His last loss came in 2025 against Victor Valenzuela, now on the UFC roster.

Short notice cuts both ways. Smith trades a long layoff for a short camp. Whitehead arrives sharp but with almost no time to prepare for a southpaw who wrestles.

Johnny Walker vs. Mick Parkin, Heavyweight

Johnny Walker moves up after 16 UFC bouts at light heavyweight. At 6'6" with an 82-inch reach, he still holds a three-inch reach edge at heavyweight. Six of his eight UFC wins came by strikes, five of those in the first round. He lost a split decision to Dominick Reyes in April.

The other side of the ledger: Walker has been knocked down seven times in the UFC, and four of his seven losses were stoppages by strikes.

Mick Parkin is one fight removed from his first professional loss, a decision to Marcin Tybura in March 2025, and has been out 560 days. He lands 4.70 per minute to Walker's 3.90 and averages 1.38 takedowns per 15.

Parkin has faced four takedown attempts in five UFC bouts, so his defense there is largely untested. The question is whether Walker's power carries up a division, and whether Parkin gets past the early minutes where Walker has done his damage.

Prelims

Anthony Wint vs. Lucas Armand, Heavyweight

Anthony Wint, a former New York Jets linebacker, is 8-0 and fighting for the third time in under eight weeks: a 34-second knockout on the Contender Series on August 11, an arm-triangle choke of Terrance Chatman at 4:29 of the first round on August 22, and now this. His 4.5 UFC minutes are a highlight, not a sample.

Lucas Armand debuts at 6-0 with five knockouts. He is the 2 Piece Promotions heavyweight champion with two title defenses, and he finished former UFC heavyweight Braxton Smith.

Two heavyweights in their early thirties who have never lost as professionals. Wint's route has run through wrestling and top position, Armand's through his hands. Something gives on Saturday.

Marcus McGhee vs. Anthony Romero, Featherweight

Benardo Sopaj withdrew this week, and Anthony Romero takes the bout on three days' notice, up a division at featherweight. Romero, 29, debuts at 7-2 as the UpNext bantamweight champion, coming off a 25-second knockout of Yuma Horiuchi in May in his first title defense. He has won two straight since his last loss in March 2025, with four knockouts and two submissions among his seven wins.

Marcus McGhee, ranked 15th at bantamweight, is 5-1 in the UFC, the loss coming against Petr Yan, and returned in June with a decision over John Yannis. This is his first UFC bout at featherweight. He has three knockdowns in six UFC bouts and has not been knocked down. He lands 5.44 per minute and holds 90 percent takedown defense.

McGhee prepared for a wrestler and now meets a boxing-based finisher with no UFC sample at all. Neither man is in the fight he trained for.

Damian Pinas vs. Andrey Pulyaev, Middleweight

Damian Pinas has spent 7.2 minutes in the UFC and needed none of them past the first round: knockouts of Wes Schultz and Cesar Almeida, with three knockdowns along the way. He is 24, 10-1, and has finished every win of his career. The rates behind that are too thin to quote.

Andrey Pulyaev, 29, is 1-3 in the UFC and has lost two straight: a decision to Ateba Gautier in January and a first-round rear-naked choke against Nursulton Ruziboev in June. He is a 6'4" southpaw with a three-inch height edge, and he lands 3.60 per minute while absorbing 2.94.

He has also been knocked down twice, and opponents have controlled him for close to a third of his UFC time. Pinas's record says the first five minutes decide it. Pulyaev's height, and whatever grappling he can find, are how he reaches the sixth.

Imanol Rodriguez vs. Alden Coria, Flyweight

Imanol Rodriguez, a TUF alumnus, knocked out Kevin Borjas in the second round of his UFC debut in February and has been out 217 days since. That debut included one knockdown landed and two suffered, and at 9.4 minutes it is too small a sample to read rates from.

Alden Coria is 3-0 in the UFC and unbeaten in seven. He holds the length, 5'8" with a 67-inch reach against 5'4" and 64, and he mixes it: 2.21 takedowns per 15 at 54 percent accuracy, 69 percent striking defense and a 1.50 submission average.

Two of his three UFC wins were decisions, the third a third-round knockout of Alessandro Costa. He has neither landed nor absorbed a knockdown in the UFC. Rodriguez's pace against Coria's control is the matchup.

Main Card

Ateba Gautier vs. Roman Kopylov, Middleweight

Ateba Gautier is 24, 5-0 in the UFC, and on a 10-fight win streak. Four of the five UFC wins were knockouts, all inside two rounds, and the exception was a decision over Andrey Pulyaev, who fights earlier the same night. He has six knockdowns in 27.6 UFC minutes and has not been knocked down. At 6'4" with an 81-inch reach, he holds six inches of reach over his opponent.

Roman Kopylov, 34, is 7-3 over his last 10 with five finishes. He lands 4.54 per minute and absorbs 5.08, with 1.12 takedowns per 15 and 88 percent takedown defense.

Kopylov has never been stopped by strikes in the UFC. His five losses are three decisions and two rear-naked chokes. Both men last fought at UFC 328 in May, and this is a knockout artist meeting a man who has not been knocked out in the Octagon.

Roberto Soldic vs. Khaos Williams, Welterweight

Roberto Soldic debuts at 31 as a former two-division KSW champion, 21-4 with one no contest. He went 1-1 with Dricus Du Plessis in KSW, the win a knockout, then spent four years in ONE Championship for a win, a loss and a no contest.

Khaos Williams is the test, 7-4 in the UFC and coming off a first-round TKO of Nikolay Veretennikov in May. Five of his seven UFC wins are knockouts. He lands 4.97 per minute and absorbs 5.34, at 39 percent accuracy and 41 percent defense.

He has six knockdowns across 102 UFC minutes and has never been knocked down. His losses run the other way: three decisions and a D'Arce choke from Gabriel Bonfim. Williams has not landed either of the two takedowns he has attempted in the UFC. Neither man has much reason to take this anywhere but the feet.

King Green vs. Esteban Ribovics, Lightweight

King Green is 40 and on a four-fight win streak, the last three by finish: Daniel Zellhuber, Jeremy Stephens and Terrance McKinney. He is 7-3 over his last 10 and carries 62 percent striking defense and 53 percent accuracy across 31 UFC bouts.

Esteban Ribovics lands 7.27 per minute and absorbs 5.83. He is 5-2 over his last seven, holds three Fight of the Night bonuses, and stopped Edson Barboza in the second round on August 15, 49 days before this bout.

Their records overlap. Both beat Zellhuber, Green by TKO and Ribovics by split decision. Both beat McKinney in the first round. Ribovics stopped Barboza, who beat Green by decision in 2014.

Green has been knocked down six times in the UFC, and Ribovics has faced 56 takedown attempts in eight bouts. Green's willingness to wrestle, 1.32 takedowns per 15, is the wrinkle in what otherwise reads as a volume striker against a counterpuncher.

Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Payton Talbott, Bantamweight

Deiveson Figueiredo is 38, a former two-time flyweight champion, and 1-4 in his last five. The run includes a loss to Cory Sandhagen recorded as a TKO due to a knee injury, and most recently a guillotine submission against Song Yadong in May.

Payton Talbott, 28, beat Henry Cejudo by unanimous decision in December and has been out 301 days. He lands 6.62 per minute to Figueiredo's 2.57, with a five-inch height edge and a two-inch reach edge from a switch stance.

Figueiredo's route is grappling: 1.61 takedowns per 15 and a 1.20 submission average. Four of his 14 UFC wins came by submission. He also has 12 knockdowns in the UFC and has been knocked down once.

The mat is also where Talbott has been tested. Opponents have controlled him for about a third of his UFC time, and he has faced 50 takedown attempts in six bouts.

Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong, Women's Flyweight Championship

Natalia Silva is 8-0 in the UFC and has won 14 straight. Her last three wins came against former champions Jessica Andrade, Alexa Grasso and Rose Namajunas, all by unanimous decision, and her last five UFC wins have all gone the distance. She lands 4.81 per minute, absorbs 2.36, and holds 90 percent takedown defense. She has not been knocked down in the UFC.

Wang Cong has won four straight, all by decision, since a second-round rear-naked choke loss to Gabriella Fernandes in November 2024, and beat Tracy Cortez in July. She is the higher-volume, more accurate striker of the two, landing 6.82 per minute at 58 percent to Silva's 4.81 at 45. She also holds a 2015 win over Valentina Shevchenko in a striking bout outside MMA, and Shevchenko's injury is what vacated this title.

They share one opponent. Both stopped Victoria Leonardo in the first round, Silva at 2:58 in 2023 and Wang at 1:02 in 2024.

Neither has fought past the third round in the UFC. All 14 of their combined UFC bouts were scheduled for three. Both are southpaws, both control little of their own fights, and both prefer to settle things at range. Five rounds at altitude asks a question neither record has answered yet.

If you want to see the predictions for the card, visit mmafightadvisor.com/predictions, and for head to head comparisons on every fighter on it, visit mmafightadvisor.com/stats.