Natalia Silva is patiently waiting for UFC flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko to give the promotion the green light to book their title fight for later this year, and she’s gaining confidence as “Bullet” posts training clips from Thailand.
After beating former champion Alexa Grasso in May 2025, Silva hoped to challenge for the 125-pound belt, but ultimately agreed to face Rose Namajunas the following January after being promised a title shot. However, Silva said the UFC recently told her Shevchenko “is injured and we need to wait for her to recover.”
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“We’re waiting and hoping the champion is ready to fight soon,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “From what she posts on social media, it doesn’t seem to be anything serious. It looks like she’s already back training. We’re just waiting for her to say, ‘Alright, let’s put the belt on the line.’ There’s no way she’s going to keep holding onto the belt forever, right? [laughs] A champion has to keep the division moving. That’s all we’re waiting for.”
The Brazilian contender has won all eight bouts under the UFC banner, pocketing bonuses for impressive performances against Jessica Andrade and Tereza Bleda, and said she’s willing to go all the way to Kyrgyzstan to challenge Shevchenko in enemy territory.
“My goal is to become champion,” Silva said. “It doesn’t matter where the fight happens, whether it’s in her country or anywhere else. It doesn’t matter where it is, my goal is to become champion. No matter where I fight, I’m going to become champion. I truly believe that. If the UFC wants to make that happen, that’s great for me.”
Silva said the champion “is definitely a very tough challenge” and still “in her prime” at age 38, but does not fight the same way she used to in the past. Shevchenko won decisions against Manon Fiorot and Zhang Weili after reclaiming her belt from Grasso in 2024, reaching nine total successful title defenses across two reigns.
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“She’s changed her game a little bit,” Silva said. “She relied much more on her striking before, and now she seems more inclined to go for the grappling exchanges, but I think that’s smart. She’s a fighter who does that extremely well. A lot of that comes from the experience she already has. She’s absolutely a very tough fighter, and we’re preparing for the toughest fight of our lives because there’s a reason she’s still at the top today. She’s a great fighter and she does extremely well whatever she sets out to do.”
With a striking-based game, Silva anticipates having to defend takedowns against Shevchenko inside the octagon, but eventually dominating the contest. Silva has only conceded three takedowns in eight UFC bouts against Namajunas, Bleda and Viviane Araujo.
“I’ve had eight fights in the UFC, and in all eight of those fights, at some point my opponents tried to grapple with me, so I don’t think it’ll be any different with her,” Silva said. “At some point she’ll look for the grappling exchanges because that’s where she feels more comfortable now. We train to be ready for everything because you really feel it during the fight, you know?
“You start landing shots and think, ‘I think I can get the knockout.’ You can create a strategy beforehand but what you truly feel only happens inside the fight itself. So we’re going to train and prepare to finish by knockout, prepare to finish by submission, but we’ll also prepare to win on points. As my corners guide me throughout the fight, we create those moments and eventually the victory becomes inevitable.”
