Natalia Silva is willing to beat how ever many fighters the UFC throws her way until she has the flyweight belt wrapped around her waist.
That includes ex-champion Rose Namajunas, who meets Silva on the main card of UFC 324 in Las Vegas this Saturday. Silva expected to compete for the 125-pound title after beating two former champions in a row, Jessica Andrade and Alexa Grasso, but was forced to sit out while Zhang Weili moved up in her quest for double gold versus Shevchenko. Silva hoped she would be next, but instead faces Namajunas.
“When Valentina’s fight ended, I was really expecting that opportunity for a title shot,” Silva told MMA Fighting, “But the UFC said that Valentina wasn’t going to fight right away, not anytime soon, and that they didn’t want me to stay inactive for too long. They wanted me to take another fight. It turned out that the fight between Rose and Alexa was already booked [for UFC 324], I don’t know exactly what happened, and Alexa pulled out of the fight, so the UFC asked me to take it. They said they didn’t want me sitting out and that it was important for me to have this fight. My team discussed it and we felt the fight made sense, so we accepted it.”
Silva said even though she hoped her next assignment would be for UFC gold, the Brazilian flyweight feels “this fight as just another step, a fight to make me even more prepared for the title.”
“I don’t see [the wait] as something frustrating, quite the opposite,” Silva said. “When you look at the situation calmly and with a more critical eye, you can see that this will add much more weight to my story and much more weight when I become champion. For example, Amanda [Nunes’] story — Amanda beat pretty much all the former champions, and that adds a lot of weight to her legacy, to her story.
“I see it the same way. I’m writing a story, and it’s going to be beautiful. I’m sure of that. … When I arrived in the organization — and even before I was in the UFC — I always said I wanted to come in and write my own story. This is a step in that story. Fighting former champions and beating former champions, and then beating the champion. I think this is adding more and more weight to my story.”
That same mindset applies when Silva discusses the aftermath of UFC 324. Beating Namajunas in Las Vegas would bring her promotional record to 8-0 with wins over three former champions, but the possibility of watching Shevchenko move to bantamweight for a second belt could once again delay her title aspirations.
“I can’t say anything for sure,” Silva said. “I’m not the boss, I’m just an employee of the promotion. So if the UFC says I have to fight, what am I going to do? There’s no other option. From my perspective, yes, I believe [a title shot should be next], but I’m not the one who decides that. If the UFC wants me to fight everyone, if I have to beat everyone to get to the title, I’ll do it, because my main goal is to be champion. Whatever obstacles I have to overcome, whatever steps I have to climb, I will climb them because I will be champion, I have no doubt about that. At some point, it will happen. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it.
“One thing I’m sure is that nothing can stop a purpose, nothing can stop what you’re completely convinced is going to happen. They can give me another fight, it doesn’t matter. I’ll go in there, I’ll fight, I’ll win. I know these are huge challenges. Rose is a big name in the organization, she’s a very tough athlete. I’ve watched Rose fight a lot, I’ve gotten emotional watching her victories, she’s a huge name, so if I have to fight whoever it is, it doesn’t matter. I’ll fight, I’ll get there, I’ll perform, I’ll win, because my goal is to be champion. It doesn’t matter what I have to go through before that.”
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