After reigning
Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight champion
Valentina
Shevchenko had to vacate the title due to injury, Natalia
Silva and Cong Wang
duked it out for 125-pound supremacy in the main event of UFC
332.
It was Silva who prevailed to finally see her lifelong dream come
true, as she outclassed Wang for five rounds, winning a rather
lopsided unanimous decision to hoist the belt in front of a sellout
crowd inside the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
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Natalia Silva defeated Cong Wang at UFC 332 before Payton
Talbott stopped Deiveson Figueiredo
Silva (21-5-1) used her tremendous speed and confusing movement to
perplex “The Joker” throughout, preventing Wang from landing many
impactful strikes during their encounter. Even when Wang (10-2)
stepped on the gas late, it wasn’t enough, and Silva weathered the
storm. In the end, Silva was awarded the cageside judges’ decision
via tallies of 48-47 (twice) and 49-46, capping off what was an
excellent and violent fight card.
Payton
Talbott made a statement loud and clear that he is ready to
take on the top dogs of the bantamweight division, as he torched
former two-time flyweight king Deiveson
Figueiredo in the first round of the co-main event. Talbott
(12-1) sent the Brazilian to the canvas with a perfect straight
right to the face and proceeded to beat the living hell out of
Figueiredo (25-8-1) until referee Jason Herzog had no choice but to
rescue him. It didn’t matter if Talbott landed rights or lefts, or
shots to the head and body; Figueiredo stood little chance of
surviving. “Daico” bowed out at the 2:09 mark, and Talbott, coming
off a dominant win over multi-division champ and Olympic gold
medalist Henry
Cejudo, called out Sean O’Malley afterward.
Esteban
Ribovics (17-3) wasn’t fazed by longtime veteran and
crowd-pleaser King Green’s
in-cage antics as he thumped him late in the opening round of their
lightweight encounter. Green (36-18-1, 1 NC) was talking plenty of
trash and playing head games as soon as the fight began, but
Ribovics stayed cool and eventually dropped him with a looping left
hook to the jaw. Green bounced back up, but “El Gringo” planted
another left hook on the jaw, sending him to the canvas again. The
Argentine finally closed the show by landing yet another left hook,
one that felled the American for good as veteran third man Herb Dean waved
it off. The end came at 4:08 of the round. Ribovics was deemed
ineligible for post-fight bonuses, though, because he missed weight
on Friday.
In what was a scintillating affair, welterweight Roberto
Soldic survived a shaky first round to storm back and batter
Kalinn
Williams over the final two frames to earn a unanimous decision
win. “Robocop” tore into Williams’ head and body repeatedly with
crisp punches and took the American down almost at will. Soldic
(22-4, 1 NC) had “Khaos” hurt and wobbly multiple times, but he
couldn’t put Williams (16-6) away and took home the nod via tallies
of 29-27 (twice) and 29-28.
Roman
Kopylov was expected by many to be more of a showcase opponent
for fellow middleweight and highly touted Ateba
Abega Gautier. However, the Russian halted the buzz train by
drubbing the Cameroonian knockout artist in the opening frame to
kick off the main card in stellar fashion. Kopylov (16-5) stuck his
foe with a straight left to the face during an exchange, and the
punch rocked Gautier. Another shot followed, and as soon as Gautier
(11-2) hit the deck, Kopylov wasted no time unloading a stream of
hammerfists until referee Marc Goddard
had to stop the mugging. The end came officially at 3:12 of the
first.
Imanol
Rodriguez capped off a spectacular preliminary card by
vanquishing Alden Coria
in the first with a crippling teep to the gut. Rodriguez climbed to
8-0 with his impressive showing, peppering Coria (13-4, 1 NC) with
punches courtesy of his blistering hand speed, but it was a
perfectly timed teep that finished the contest. Rodriguez dug his
toes deep into “Cobra’s” belly, eliciting a scream from the
Houston-based fighter, and when he crumbled to the canvas, referee
Jason Herzog interposed, stopping it at the 3:11 mark.
There is a ton of buzz swirling around rising middleweight Damian
Pinas, and he proved again today why: crushing one-punch power.
Pinas (11-1) torched Russian Andrey
Pulyaev with a perfect right uppercut to the jaw, sending
Pulyaev (10-6) crashing to the canvas in a lifeless heap. All it
took was 75 seconds for Pinas to electrify the Salt Lake City
crowd; he proclaimed that he wants a top-10 middleweight next.
Featherweight contender Marcus
McGhee had no problem with late replacement Anthony
Romero, as he took him out with just two seconds remaining in
the opening stanza. McGhee (12-2) dropped “The Bully” with a jab
and then closed the show by hammering him with punch after punch
against the cage until referee Tyler
Tomlinson intervened. Romero dipped to 7-3, 1 NC.
Former New York Jets player Anthony
Wint soared to 9-0 by dismantling fellow heavyweight Lucas
Armand in just 23 seconds. Wint charged at Arman (6-1), forced
him into the cage and then unloaded a tidal wave of punches until
his opponent dropped to the canvas and had to be rescued by referee
Mike Beltran.
Fan favorite Johnny
Walker was successful in his heavyweight debut, as the popular
Brazilian detonated his left knee on Mick
Parkin’s jaw, ending their tussle in spectacular fashion.
Walker (23-10, 1 NC) got the Englishman in a Thai plum and then
uncorked a perfect knee, sending Parkin (10-2) to the canvas, out
cold and flat on his back at 3:35 of the first.
Unbeaten welterweight contender Jacobe
Smith took another step toward greatness as he obliterated
Bruce
Whitehead (8-3) in just 92 seconds. After scoring a powerful
slam, Smith (13-0) unloaded punches to the dome before knocking
“The Goose” out.
Alexander
Hernandez scored the biggest win of his career as he stopped
former lightweight world champion Rafael dos
Anjos in the second round. After rocking Dos Anjos late in the
first and then again early in the second, Hernandez clubbed him
with a right hook to the head and finished the Brazilian with
follow-up punches moments later. Referee Mike Beltran had to pull
Hernandez (19-9) off, ending the beating at 3:12 of the second. Dos
Anjos fell to 31-18.
Middleweight contender Ismail
Naurdiev turned in a workmanlike performance and out-hustled
Marvin
Vettori (19-11-1) over three rounds, winning a unanimous
decision. All three cageside judges saw it 29-28 for Naurdiev, who
improved to 26-8.
New Jersey’s Eric Nolan
played the role of spoiler as he vanquished longtime veteran
Court
McGee in his farewell bout, stopping “The Crusher” in the third
round. After a competitive battle, Nolan (9-5) rocked McGee with
punches to the head and then unloaded dozens of follow-up shots
until McGee (23-15) crumbled to the canvas, prompting referee Jason
Herzog to rescue him. The end came officially at 3:26 of the frame.