The September Heavyweight Buzz Rankings are available and it’s no surprise that Kimbo Slice shot to the top of the heap in tandem with the newest season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show premiering on Spike TV. Kimbo received an enormous amount of mainstream fan interest during the month, as did fellow TV show participant Roy Nelson, who jumped to fourth place. Fedor Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar were each bumped down a spot in September to second and third place.
Croatian veteran Mirko Cro Cop and Brazilian up and comer Junior Dos Santos each jumped several spots in the rankings after participating in the most high-profile heavyweight bout of the month at UFC 103 in Dallas, Texas. Alistair Overeem, the Dutch heavyweight champion of the Strikeforce organization, is slowly being forgotten by American fans while he continues to fight in other countries rather than defend the belt of the U.S. promotion.
Todd Duffee, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Fabricio Werdum each dropped out of the top 10 in September after having been active with bouts in August.
| September Rank |
Heavyweight Fighter |
August to September Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson | Up 3 |
| 2 | Fedor Emelianenko | Down 1 |
| 3 | Brock Lesnar | Down 1 |
| 4 | Roy Nelson | Up 38 |
| 5 | Bobby Lashley | No Change |
| 6 | Shane Carwin | Down 3 |
| 7 | Wes Sims | Up 45 |
| 8 | Mirko “Cro Cop” Filopivic | Up 6 |
| 9 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Down 3 |
| 10 | Frank Mir | No Change |
| 11 | Ken Shamrock | Down 2 |
| 12 | Brett Rogers | Down 5 |
| 13 | Andrei Arlovski | Down 5 |
| 14 | Tim Sylvia | Down 3 |
| 15 | Junior Dos Santos | Up 6 |
| 16 | Seth Petruzelli | Up 7 |
| 17 | Cain Velasquez | Down 4 |
| 18 | Ron Waterman | Up 22 |
| 19 | Jeff Monson | Up 16 |
| 20 | Alistair Overeem | Down 8 |
Dropped out of Heavyweight Top 20:
David “Tank” Abbott (#22), Todd Duffee (#24), Gabriel Gonzaga (#27), Josh Barnett (#30), Fabricio Werdum (#35)
