Natalia Silva Crowned, Pereira Opens as Underdog for UFC 335

We summarize the day's news in our own words. Full credit to the outlets below for the original reporting, click through to read their work:

• UFC 332 results: Natalia Silva wins women's flyweight title in record-setting night (ESPN MMA)
• Natalia Silva crowned women’s flyweight champion at UFC 332 as Valentina Shevchenko issues warning (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Dropped twice, Roberto Soldic flipped the fight to win UFC debut (Sherdog)
• Dropped twice, Roberto Soldic flipped the fight to win UFC debut (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Alex Pereira, Diego Lopes open as underdogs for UFC 335 (Sherdog)
• Alex Poatan emerges as underdog in bets against Sergei Pavlovich for UFC 335 (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Alex Pereira, Diego Lopes open as underdogs for UFC 335 (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Oliveira vs. Lopes, Pereira vs. Pavlovich set for UFC 335 in Las Vegas (The Mac Life)
• UFC 335 gives Alex Pereira the chance for revenge 7 months after Sergei Pavlovich KO’d his teammate (Bloody Elbow)
• Valter Walker explains bizarre reaction to brother’s UFC 332 knockout (Sherdog)
• Cong Wang says eye poke left her unable to see in UFC 332 title loss (Sherdog)
• Dana White criticizes Wang Cong after loss to Natália Silva: “She will hate herself when she rewatches the fight” (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Natália Silva heeds Dana White's advice and promises to be an active champion in the UFC (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Wang Cong says eye poke led to slow start in first statement following main event loss to Natalia Silva at UFC 332 (MMA Fighting)
• Glover Teixeira: Raoni Barcelos had brain swelling after UFC Vegas 121 (Sherdog)
• Glover Teixeira Says Raoni Barcelos Suffered Brain Swelling at UFC Vegas 121 (MiddleEasy)
• Sunday MMA Quick Hits: What Happened to Barcelos, RIZIN Results, Dana-Hearn Never Ends (Cageside Press)
• UFC 335 Moves On Without Sean Strickland as Fighter Pay Controversy Grows (LowKick MMA)
• Nassourdine Imavov offers $500K, tells UFC to strip Sean Strickland (Sherdog)
• Nassourdine Imavov Offers Sean Strickland $500K, Calls For UFC To Strip Him (MiddleEasy)
• Nassourdine Imavov Offers Sean Strickland $500K to Fight for UFC Middleweight Gold Amid Pay Dispute (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Imavov is willing to give Strickland 500k to fight him. We could've got this as a main event for 335 but the UFC probably lowballed their Champ (r/ufc)
• Joe Rogan Warns Alex Pereira of ‘Tough Task’ Against Sergei Pavlovich (LowKick MMA)
• Pereira is definitely capable of beating Pavlovich. (r/ufc)
• Ex-Jets LB wants the man who knocked out Gable Steveson in 12 seconds (Sherdog)
• Dana White Claims UFC Is Worth $50 Billion, Wants $10 Billion Broadcast Deal Next (MiddleEasy)
• Dana White breaks his silence on the ‘disgusting’ unauthorized book published by his late mother (Bloody Elbow)

Welcome to Open Scoring MMA. This is episode 109 for October 5th, 2026, your daily look at what's happening now and next across the world of MMA and UFC. DUKE: Natalia Silva won the vacant women's flyweight title.
NORA: Natalia Silva beat Wang Cong at UFC 332 Saturday night in Salt Lake City for the vacant belt.
DUKE: Five rounds. Dominant the whole way.
NORA: Unanimous decision, and it wasn't close. One of the best title fight performances that division's seen in a while.
DUKE: I called this one, by the way.
NORA: You did.
DUKE: Before fight week even wrapped I said it was youth, length, and a cleaner camp against a legend who'd been through a rough stretch.
NORA: And that's exactly what showed up on fight night.
DUKE: What's the record sitting at now?
NORA: Three and one on the season for you.
DUKE: I'll take it.
NORA: Here's the wrinkle. Valentina Shevchenko already put out a warning the second Silva got her hand raised.
DUKE: That fight's basically booking itself in my head already.
NORA: The belt's not even cold and there's already a mandatory lining up.
DUKE: Now on to the results. Roberto Soldic made his UFC debut Sunday night, and it was not a clean one.
NORA: He got dropped twice.
DUKE: Twice, and still won the thing.
NORA: He flipped it. Showed the whole toolkit, and by the end he wasn't even hunting the finish, just controlling it home.
DUKE: That's a gutsy way to introduce yourself to the UFC.
NORA: Getting hurt twice in your promotional debut and still getting your hand raised tells you a lot about the chin and the composure. Mixed on the highlight reel, but an A plus on the resume.
DUKE: Now on to the card news. UFC 335 is official, December twelfth in Las Vegas.
NORA: Alex Pereira versus Sergei Pavlovich is the co-main event.
DUKE: And Pereira's opening as the underdog.
NORA: Both Pereira and Diego Lopes opened as underdogs for their fights on this card.
DUKE: Lopes draws Charles Oliveira as the main event for the night. And Dana White made it official. And Pavlovich is the toll booth.
NORA: A huge, dangerous toll booth. Underdog odds against a two division champ is not nothing.
DUKE: Now on to the fighter news. Back to that UFC 332 main event, because Wang Cong says there's more to the story. Dana White wasn't exactly sympathetic.
NORA: No. He said, quote, "She will hate herself when she rewatches the fight," end quote.
DUKE: Brutal.
NORA: He thinks there was a version of that fight she could've won and didn't find it.
DUKE: Meanwhile the new champ isn't waiting around.
NORA: Natalia Silva says she's heeding White's advice, staying active instead of sitting on the belt waiting for Shevchenko.
DUKE: Smart. The division needs a champion who fights.
NORA: Especially with Shevchenko already circling.
DUKE: One quick one, Johnny Walker's brother Valter had a strange reaction to his brother's successful heavyweight debut.
NORA: Totally underwhelmed, for a genuinely funny reason he explained after the fact.
DUKE: Love that family.
NORA: Now the harder one. Glover Teixeira revealed Raoni Barcelos suffered brain swelling during that scary collapse at UFC Vegas 121.
DUKE: That was after the loss to Raul Rosas Jr, right?
NORA: Right, the fight that ended in a medical emergency.
DUKE: Hopefully a full recovery. Scary phrase to hear attached to any fighter.
NORA: Genuinely.
DUKE: And the Strickland situation's turning into a real mess. UFC 335 is moving on without Sean Strickland.
NORA: Sean Strickland was reportedly healthy and available, but his middleweight title defense against Nassourdine Imavov fell apart over pay.
DUKE: So Imavov just offered to fix it himself.
NORA: Five hundred thousand dollars of his own money, and he's calling for the UFC to strip Strickland of the belt.
DUKE: A challenger paying to make his own title shot happen.
NORA: That's how badly he wants this rematch.
DUKE: The Reddit community's all over this one too, saying that could've been the centerpiece of 335 if the money had gotten sorted.
NORA: Instead the champ's on the shelf and the challenger's writing checks. He said, quote, "He's like, 'I want another shot at Ciryl Gane.' He's got to go through Sergei Pavlovich to get it, and that's a tough task. Pavlovich is a huge, huge heavyweight with gigantic power and fantastic boxing," end quote.
DUKE: He's not wrong about the power. That's the whole story of his career path right now.
NORA: The Reddit crowd isn't buying the doom and gloom though. A lot of fans think it's closer to fifty fifty.
DUKE: Why's that?
NORA: They point out the last fighter with that kind of power Pavlovich faced knocked him out in barely a minute.
DUKE: And Pereira hits just as hard.
NORA: That's the argument. Different puncher, same vulnerability, maybe.
DUKE: One more, lighter note. Anthony Wint wants the man who knocked out Gable Steveson in twelve seconds.
NORA: Wint just picked up his second UFC win and he's looking to build his name fast.
DUKE: Twelve seconds is a scary number to chase.
NORA: It is, but it's also the kind of fight that gets you noticed overnight.
DUKE: Now on to the business side. Dana White's throwing around some enormous numbers.
NORA: He says the UFC is worth fifty billion dollars.
DUKE: Fifty billion. How's he getting there? That's a leap.
NORA: And he wants ten billion for the next broadcast deal.
DUKE: Ten billion! White's never been shy about aiming high.
NORA: No, and given how the last deal went, nobody's betting against him getting close.
DUKE: Now on to the around the sport stuff. Dana White finally addressed that unauthorized book his late mother wrote about him.
NORA: He says he's never actually read it. Quote, "It's unfortunate. I've actually never seen the book. It's the first time I've ever seen the book," end quote. And he's not interested in relitigating it publicly either. Quote, "I don't go on shows to speak negatively about my mother," end quote.
DUKE: Respect that, honestly.
NORA: Agreed.
DUKE: Before we get to the next cards, let's settle the ledger.
NORA: You're three and one. I'm five and one.
DUKE: And we both cashed again.
NORA: I said the model leans Jacobe Smith off the overall read, and he got it done.
DUKE: And I said I'd trust it. Jacobe Smith it is.
NORA: Look at that.
DUKE: We're both feeling pretty good right now.
NORA: Don't get used to it. The model's actual hit rate on the year is seventy six and a half percent.
DUKE: Which is good.
NORA: It is, but the market's hitting seventy seven and two tenths. We're not beating the house overall.
DUKE: Yet.
NORA: The value plays are where we're winning, thirteen and two.
DUKE: That's the number I actually care about. Let's look ahead. In five days, this Saturday, Brendan Allen meets Christian Leroy Duncan in the main event.
NORA: The following Saturday, October seventeenth, Mike Malott meets Joaquin Buckley in the main event. Busy stretch coming.
DUKE: Alright, time for the pick.
NORA: We've got Tsarukyan, seventy six percent.
DUKE: And the market?
NORA: The line implies about seventy nine. So we're actually lower than the books here.
DUKE: Huh.
NORA: Rare for us to be the cautious ones.
DUKE: Lay it on me, why Tsarukyan.
NORA: Despite being shorter, he's got the reach advantage, and that could be a real problem for Gaethje.
DUKE: Okay, that's weird on paper but it tracks on tape.
NORA: Stylistically his wrestling and pressure are a nightmare matchup for Gaethje's counter striking and defensive grappling.
DUKE: Gaethje's power is still Gaethje's power though.
NORA: Sure, and he's beaten top competition. But he's also shown real vulnerability in there.
DUKE: While Tsarukyan's riding a strong streak, including a dominant finish recently.
NORA: Exactly. That's the gap for us.
DUKE: I still think Gaethje's got the puncher's chance everybody always gives him.
NORA: He does. That's why we're not at ninety percent.
DUKE: Fair enough. Arman Tsarukyan it is.
One more thing before we go. Nora has Tsarukyan at seventy six percent while the market says seventy nine. Is Gaethje's puncher's chance being undersold here, or are we still too generous? And while you're here, two quick ones. Our free Fight Tracker is at tracker dot open scoring m m a dot com, with every upcoming UFC and PFL card, live odds, and where to watch, all in one place. And follow us on YouTube, just search Open Scoring MMA, for breaking news alerts, fight breakdowns, and videos you won't get here on the feed. That's it for today's Open Scoring MMA. Keep your hands up, and we'll see you next time.