UFC 332's Flyweight Title Fight Lands With a Thud — Even Dana White Seems Checked Out

UFC 332 rolls into Salt Lake City on Saturday with a vacant flyweight title on the line between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong — and the hardest sell of the week might be convincing anyone to care. The promotional buzz has been thin from the start, and CEO Dana White didn't exactly move the needle Thursday, showing little enthusiasm or even familiarity with the names on his own card, Wang Cong included.

That's a problem when the face of the company can't muster energy for his main event. Wang herself conceded the obvious this week, admitting Silva hasn't been pulling her weight on the promotional side. When a title challenger is openly calling out the hype machine, you know the build has stalled.

The Co-Main Carries the Intrigue

The more compelling matchup sits one slot down: Payton Talbott against former flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo. Figueiredo, now 25-7-1 (9 KO, 9 SUB) and ranked #9 at bantamweight, didn't do himself any favors with the fight-week trash talk — he dismissed Talbott as one of the easier outs in the division and started angling for a Joshua Van fight instead. Bold talk from a man coming off a second-round submission loss to Song Yadong.

Elsewhere on the card, King Green takes on Esteban Ribovics in a lightweight scrap with real stakes for the Argentine. Ribovics is 16-3 (8 KO, 5 SUB) and riding momentum after a second-round TKO of Edson Barboza last time out — a result that turned heads and put him on the fringe of the division's conversation.

The McGregor Subplot

Away from Utah, Rafael dos Anjos reopened the door on a long-dormant grudge, talking up the idea of finally sharing a cage with Conor McGregor. The two were booked years ago and never fought. McGregor, 22-7 (19 KO, 1 SUB), hasn't competed since a first-round TKO loss to Max Holloway and still has no signed bout agreement for a return — so file this one under wishful thinking for now.

Rounding out the week's chatter: Glover Teixeira weighed in on the scary stoppage Raoni Barcelos suffered at UFC Vegas 121, and the RAF Abu Dhabi grappling event added a bout between Umar Nurmagomedov and Urijah Faber. Plenty happening around the sport — just not much of it attached to the pay-per-view everyone's supposed to buy this weekend.