UFC 332 Results: What the Silva-Wang Card Showed About MMA Scoring
UFC 332 in Salt Lake City had a main event built around Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong, fighting for the undisputed UFC flyweight title Valentina Shevchenko vacated. The co-main event paired two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo with bantamweight Payton Talbott. But the early part of the card, before those fights, already showed how MMA bouts get decided. Most ended early. One reached the judges. That one turned scoring into a defining detail.
A Card Decided Mostly by Finishes
According to UFC.com’s official prelim results, the early fights rarely needed scorecards. Johnny Walker stopped Mick Parkin with a knee 3:35 into the first round. Jacobe Smith finished Bruce Whitehead with ground-and-pound at 1:32 of Round 1. Alexander Hernandez needed more time, stopping Rafael Dos Anjos with strikes at 3:12 of Round 2. Eric Nolan closed the prelims by stopping Court McGee with strikes at 3:26 of Round 3.
Only one preliminary bout reached the judges. Ismail Naurdiev beat Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 29-28. UFC.com reported the scorecards; MMA Fighting’s live results blog confirmed them.
Why a 29-28 Scorecard Matters
MMA uses a 10-point must system. A judge gives 10 points to the winner of a round and 9, or fewer, to the loser. The judge’s final total is the sum of all rounds. A 29-28 score for Naurdiev normally means that judge gave him two rounds and Vettori one. When all three judges agree on the same fighter, the result is a unanimous decision. Two of three is a majority decision. A split among the three is a split decision.
A finish ends the debate. A decision leaves the outcome with the judges, which is why round-by-round scoring becomes the story. The Naurdiev-Vettori fight was the only prelim that required that process. Every other prelim result stopped before the final bell.
What Was Still in the Balance
Silva and Wang were set to fight for the vacant flyweight title. Figueiredo and Talbott were set to meet at bantamweight. The confirmed record used here ends with the prelims; it does not include the final results of those two bouts. The UFC also listed a special start time for the event, with the main card airing live on CBS and Paramount+.
The distinction between finishes and decisions shapes how a fight card is remembered. A stoppage like Walker’s leaves little room for debate. A unanimous decision like Naurdiev’s leaves a 29-28 scorecard that can be examined long after the event. At UFC 332, the prelims produced both kinds of endings.