By Gregory Saks on March 12, 2010
Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva remained the two most buzzed about middleweight fighters from January to February. Wanderlei’s solid victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 110 kept him in the limelight, while fans are anxious for “The Spider” to return when defends his belt against Demian Maia at UFC 112. Both Maia and Chael Sonnen, who each scored wins at UFC 109 early in the month, jumped 13 spots in the rankings to 3rd and 4th. Three fighters fell from the top 20 middleweights in February. Full Top 20 rankings are below.
Continue reading “February MMA Buzz Rankings: Middleweight Division”
Posted in Rankings | Tagged anderson silva, chael sonnen, demian maia, middle, middleweights, wanderlei silva
By Gregory Saks on March 10, 2010
Randy Couture became the most buzzed about light heavyweight fighter in MMA in February following his flawless performance and victory over Mark Coleman at UFC 109. The over-matched Coleman came in second in the divisional buzz rankings, while last month’s leader Quinton Jackson fell to third. Ryan Bader also made a big move, rising eight spots after his knockout victory over Keith Jardine at UFC 110 in Australia. Sokoudjou and Ricardo Arona fell from the rankings. Top 20 rankings are below.
Continue reading “February MMA Buzz Rankings: Light Heavyweight Division”
Posted in Rankings | Tagged light heavyweights, mark coleman, quinton jackson, randy couture
By Gregory Saks on March 9, 2010
Fedor Emelianenko returned to the top of the overall buzz rankings for February, and by definition also to the top of the heavyweight division. Emelianenko is increasingly of interest to mainstream MMA fans despite not having been active since his November 2009 win over Brett Rogers. Brock Lesnar dropped one spot to second, while Cain Velasquez jumped all the way to third place following an impressive first-round knockout of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 110. In the biggest move, Australian heavyweight Anthony Perosh rose 106 spots as fans curious about the late replacement for Ben Rothwell who took to the stage to fight the aforementioned Velasquez. Full top 20 rankings below.
Continue reading “February MMA Buzz Rankings: Heavyweight Division”
Posted in Rankings | Tagged brock lesnar, cain velasquez, fedor, heavyweights
By Gregory Saks on March 8, 2010
Fedor Emelianenko inched above Brock Lesnar to become the most buzzed about MMA fighter in the month of February, returning to the spot that the Russian heavyweight last held in November. Emelianenko has increasingly become a source of intrigue and curiosity for casual MMA fans, as evidenced by his first-place ranking two months subsequent to his most recent bout. Cain Velasquez rose 52 spots to fifth in the buzz rankings after his breakout performance at UFC 110 in Australia. Also making a big move was UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen, who rose 65 spots to 16th after scoring a major upset against Nate Marquardt at UFC 109, and Demian Maia who rose 79 spots following his win over Dan Miller. 15 fighters fell from the top 50 list after having been there in January.
Continue reading “February MMA Buzz Rankings: Fedor Back on Top”
Posted in Rankings | Tagged brock lesnar, buzz, fedor
By Steven Kelliher on March 6, 2010
Since turning professional in 2006, Kansas City native LC Davis has racked up an impressive 15-2 pro record, defeating some of the most accomplished names in his division in the process, including Conor Heun, Bao Quach, Javier Vazquez, and most recently, Diego Nunes. While he was unsuccessful in his bid for the Sengoku Featherweight Championship after being defeated by Japanese standout Michihiro Omigawa, Davis is 2-0 since joining the Zuffa-owned WEC promotion last year. Tonight, Davis will put all of his training to the ultimate test, as he takes on powerful and aggressive grappler Deividas Taurosevicius on the main card of WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz, which takes place at the NationWide Arena in Columbus, Ohio with the entire main card airing live on the Versus Channel.
Davis recently spoke with Tapology’s Steven Kelliher to give his thoughts on Taurosevicius, fighting on the main card for the first time since joining the Zuffa, LLC fold, moving camp to Xtreme Couture in recent months, and his thoughts on challenging the upper echelon of the WEC’s featherweight division–including champion Jose Aldo–in the near future.
Continue reading “LC Davis is Ready for His Close-up”
Posted in Exclusives | Tagged lc davis
By Gregory Saks on March 4, 2010
Nine upsets took place among the major MMA organizations in February, making it a slightly busier month of oddsmaker surprises than in January of 2010. Topping the list was a major betting upset in Joey Beltran’s second round TKO victory over fellow UFC newcomer Rolles Gracie in the heavyweight division at UFC 109. Beltran began to control the fading Gracie until putting him away with strikes on the mat in the second round as a more than +600 underdog. Following in second place was Chael Sonnen, who as a +360 underdog defeated the middleweight contender Nate Marquardt, also at UFC 109. Also on the list was Cain Velasquez, who while barely even categorized as an underdog still put on an incredible display to defeat the very slight favorite Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 110. Full results below.
Continue reading “MMA Odds Watch: February 2010 Upsets”
Posted in MMA Odds | Tagged odds, upset
By Gregory Saks on March 3, 2010
Three events were held in February across the major MMA promotions. This produced a total of 25 professional bouts including one title fight. The UFC held two events, while Strikeforce held the third. Americans continued to make up the majority of the active fighters, with Brazil, Australia, and Croatia having good February representation. Middleweights were the most active division, decisions were the most common fight outcome, and the oddsmaker’s favorites won 63% of the time. Full results below.
Continue reading “February 2010 MMA Fight Stats Roundup”
Posted in Fight Stats | Tagged Fight Stats
By Steven Kelliher on March 2, 2010
In its newly-released official video preview for UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy the UFC has, for the first time, bestowed the unofficial title of “world’s best fighter” on Georges St-Pierre in the lead-up to the Welterweight Champion’s fourth consecutive title defense. Though the UFC does not maintain or release official public rankings, the preview marks the first time that the promotion has bestowed the “world’s best” label on anyone other than UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in close to three years. Of course this begs the question, is the UFC’s change in stance mere salesmanship, or does it signal a deeper change of attitude emanating from within the MMA industry’s juggernaut promotion?
Continue reading “UFC Bucks Trend, Hails Georges St-Pierre World’s Greatest in UFC 111 Preview”
Posted in Events | Tagged anderson silva, Exclusives, georges st-pierre
By Gregory Saks on March 1, 2010
Thiago Silva’s participation in the main event of UFC 108 helped drive a small increase in the share of MMA fan interest that Brazilian fighters receive. While MMA fans still focus the majority of their interest on American fighters, the increasing prominence of fighters such as Silva have led to Brazilians representing approximately 15% of fan interest in the sport. American fighters generate 60% of interest, while Japanese mixed martial artists are a distant third with 4.6% as of January. Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Wanderlei Silva, Junior Dos Santos and several others helped drive the increase for Brazil.
Continue reading “Brazilian Fighters Attract Fan Attention in January”
Posted in Rankings | Tagged fan interest, thiago silva
By Gregory Saks on February 27, 2010
Strikeforce gained some ground in MMA fan interest in January due to the hype surrounding its January 31st Miami card and the debut of former NFL star Herschel Walker. Walker, along with fellow star Bobby Lashley, helped create a surge in casual fan interest in the event and the promotion, enough to gain over 5 points of share of fan interest as compared to December. The UFC lost 3.5 points of fan share but at 59% of the total still remains by far the biggest focal point of interest for MMA fans. The next closest organization after Strikeforce is a K1 which is in a distant third spot followed by the WEC in fourth.
Continue reading “Strikeforce Eats into UFC’s share of Fan Interest in January”
Posted in Rankings | Tagged dream, k1, strikeforce, ufc, wec
