Natalia Silva: Shevchenko Won’t Beat Me

Silva eyes title shot, vows to beat Shevchenko

Natalia Silva, the Brazilian challenger, says she has long been ready for a shot at UFCs flyweight title and believes she can beat champion Valentina Shevchenko when the moment arrives.

The title plan shifted when Zhang Weili vacated the strawweight belt to challenge Shevchenko at UFC 322 last November. She lost by unanimous decision and Silva stepped in as a replacement for Alexa Grasso to face former champion Rose Namajunas in the UFC 324 main event in Las Vegas.

At the prefight press conference Silva explained that she had wanted a title chance for some time but was told that Shevchenko would be unavailable for a while. The UFC then offered Rose and Silva agreed that she was ready for the challenge.

The 28-year-old comes into the fight with a 19-5-1 record, including seven UFC wins and no losses inside the promotion.

Silva believes that defeating Namajunas would finally earn her a title shot. She stated that beating Rose would give her the right to challenge for the belt and that the next bout would be for the title.

Despite Shevchenko’s dominance—especially on the ground—Silva claims she has the answer and will not be intimidated. She says she trains daily to improve in both stand-up and wrestling and is ready to take the belt.

Historically Shevchenko’s only loss at flyweight came to Alexa Grasso, whom she later avenged at UFC 306. Since then she has defended the belt against Manon Fiorot and Zhang Weili.

Silva insists she is ready to crack the champion’s armor and claim the belt in Las Vegas.

Punchlines:
- If I beat Shevchenko I will prove that precision can beat power and that I can crack a smile at the same time.
- If losing were a weight class, Shevchenko would be heavyweight and I would be the featherweight of comedy.