Joker persona helps Cong 'feel the fear' in opponents — SkimNews
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- Wang Cong (34) paints her face white with a red grin and dyes her hair green before fights, drawing on the joker playing card's symbolism as "the most powerful card" rather than the Batman villain — and says she can "feel the fear" in opponents when wearing the paint.
- Cong, on a four-fight win streak and a slight surprise pick at #6 in the flyweight rankings, told BBC Sport she was "a little bit surprised" by the title shot but reasoned that higher-ranked contenders were either booked up or coming off recent fights.
- Natalia Silva (29), #1 in the rankings, enters on a 14-fight win streak across promotions including eight straight in the UFC, having beaten three former champions — and was already lined up to challenge for the belt before Valentina Shevchenko was forced to vacate through injury.
- UFC 332 at the Delta Centre marks the first women's main event since Mackenzie Dern beat Amanda Ribas in January 2025, and the first time two women have headlined a numbered UFC card since the Amanda Nunes fight in June 2023.
- Cong has cultivated her reputation for pre-fight theatrics — tossing an imaginary coin and pretending to shoot a gun before her 2024 bout with Gabriella Fernandes, and gifting Tracy Cortez a pack of fake eyelashes before their July flyweight fight.
- A win would make Cong only the second Chinese UFC champion after former strawweight title holder Zhang Weili, with Cong saying her success could encourage more athletes to try MMA in China.
- Some fans on social media had criticised the main-event booking, pushing for fights featuring Jiri Prochazka, Ciryl Gane or Alex Pereira instead — to whom Cong replied: "After my fight I think they will shut up."
Why it matters: A Cong victory would make her just the second Chinese UFC champion, giving the promotion a marquee name in a country where MMA remains underdeveloped — and her unorthodox Joker routine is the kind of personality the UFC actively courts to broaden its women's division, which hasn't topped a numbered card since June 2023.
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