What's next: Will Silva's first title defense be against Shevchenko?

The UFC has a new women's flyweight champion for the first time in over two years following the UFC 332 main event in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. And with a new champion comes brand-new matchups. After winning the belt via unanimous decision over Wang Cong, Natalia Silva will have no shortage of challengers looking for their shot at gold. Also on the UFC 332 fight card, rising men's bantamweight contender Payton Talbott made quick work of former two-time men's flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo in the co-main event. Talbott could take on a top-ranked contender in his next Octagon appearance. And a handful of young prospects earned impressive first-round knockout victories. Here's what's next for the top stars of UFC 332. Natalia Silva, women's flyweight champion Who should be next: Valentina Shevchenko The state of the UFC's women's divisions is not ideal. We haven't seen a bantamweight title fight all year, due to injuries to Kayla Harrison. Mackenzie Dern is the strawweight champion, but (fair or not) there is a pretty significant need for her to fight Zhang Weili to validate her standing as the top 115-pound fighter in the world, since Zhang vacated her belt, never lost it in competition. Now the same is true of the flyweight title. Silva has the longest active win streak at 125 pounds and might be the best in the world, but she'll battle for that perception until she fights Shevchenko. We'll have to see how long Shevchenko is out, but this fight needs to happen as soon as possible. Wild card: Erin Blanchfield Blanchfield has looked like future champion material since she debuted with the UFC at 22 years old in 2021. She's now five years into her UFC career, and she is 8-1 with one learning experience in the form of a five-round decision loss to Manon Fiorot in 2024. She's still only 27 and could well prove to be the future of this weight class. She's got a tough matchup scheduled against Jasmine Jasudavicius on Oct. 17. If she gets past that unscathed, the UFC could easily book her with Silva as soon as possible, instead of waiting for Shevchenko. Payton Talbott, men's bantamweight Who should be next: Sean O'Malley It has to be done. O'Malley was once the darling of the bantamweight division. Now it's Talbott, and it's hard to deny this matchup. Now, the UFC is almost certainly already looking at O'Malley for an upcoming title fight. Especially if Petr Yan defeats Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 later this month, O'Malley is the favorite to face Yan next. But if UFC fans were polled, the more anticipated fight might honestly be O'Malley vs. Talbott. Not to get out of control here, but this could headline a numbered event. Wild card: Farid Basharat This would be the anti-O'Malley booking. The UFC doesn't love that Basharat has mostly decisions on his record -- so much so that there's been some uncertainty about his security with the promotion. He's ranked in the top 10 by the UFC but in a spot to defend his spot (not attack). This is the kind of athlete who might need to fight down the rankings. Enter Talbott. Ateba Gautier, middleweight Who should be next: Loser of Bo Nickal vs. Joe Pyfer on Dec. 12 Hear me out: Gautier's hype train took a major, major hit with the first-round knockout loss to Roman Kopylov. There's no way around it. He took a step up in competition, and fell very flat. In this situation, the UFC can quietly step him back to the prelims somewhere -- or it can create a story. Gautier's stock took a hit but he is still extremely dangerous. There's still intrigue attached to him. Nickal is coming off a strong win at the White House over Kyle Daukaus, but there are still question marks around him. Pyfer is riding high after a finish of Israel Adesanya in his last bout. Whoever loses between Nickal and Pyfer would still be in position for a compelling bout. What's more compelling than this? There is still a way for the UFC to use what's left of the hype around Gautier and make a fight fans will want to watch. Wild card: Loser of Daukaus vs. Marc-Andre Barriault on Oct. 17 This would be an appropriate next step that would teach us more about Gautier. Kopylov is a legitimate (for lack of a better word) gatekeeper, and Daukaus and Andre Barriault are also proven veterans. Either would challenge Gautier and offer him a chance at redemption.