Natalia
Silva has responded to Cong Wang’s
eye-poke claim, Dana White’s assessment of their title fight and
Valentina
Shevchenko’s warning.
Silva captured the vacant
Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight title by
defeating Wang by unanimous decision in the UFC
332 main event on Oct. 3 in Salt Lake City, extending her UFC
winning streak to nine and her overall run to 15 consecutive
victories. She plans to make her first title defense in 2027.
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Natalia Silva disputes Cong Wang’s eye-poke claim and Dana
White’s UFC 332 assessment
Speaking to Sherdog, Silva addressed several post-fight
developments. In a video posted on social media after the bout,
Wang claimed an eye poke early in the fight affected her
performance. Silva disputed the Chinese flyweight’s account,
insisting that her hand was closed.
“I saw what she said after the fight. She said my finger brushed
against her eye, but my hand was closed,” Silva said. “It wasn’t an
illegal eye poke, as it ended up being portrayed online.”
She also pushed back on White’s suggestion that Wang would regret
her performance after watching the bout again. The Brazilian argued
that her strategy had limited her opponent’s offense.
“I talked about that with my coach,” Silva added. “Master always
tells me that whenever I win, people criticize my opponent as if
she were a bad fighter, but that’s not it. Our strategy is so well
executed that we’re able to impose our game plan and the opponent
can’t do what she had planned to do.”
Former champion Shevchenko, who vacated the title because of
injury, congratulated Silva before telling her to keep the belt
warm until her return. The new 125-pound titleholder told “Bullet”
to wait her turn.
“Thank you very much for watching the fight, now that you have time
to follow the division,” Silva continued. “But there’s something
wrong with what she said. The belt isn’t hers; it’s mine. I waited
a long time for Valentina. I was supposed to fight her, but the UFC
gave me Alexa
Grasso in May 2025, and then they gave me Namajunas in January.
Now she wants to fight? That’s fine. She can just get in line.”