Brock Lesnar announced in mid-January that he would soon be returning to active MMA competition following a battle outside of the cage against diverticulitis. Without delay, Lesnar became the most buzzed about fighter in the sport for the month, knocking Kimbo Slice from his December perch. While Lesnar’s return date remains to-be-determined, the bout will undoubtedly fuel one of the biggest UFC events of the year. The second most notable MMA buzz activity in January revolved around former NFL player Herschel Walker’s fighting debut. Walker generated the 5th most fan interest in the sport, just one spot ahead of fellow heavyweight Bobby Lashley, who also fought on the Strikeforce Miami card.
Tapology’s Buzz Rankings measure fan interest in individual MMA fighters based on online searches and pageviews for information about each athlete. The rankings are not a measure of a fighter’s skill or competitive standing within their division, but rather how much activity or “buzz” surrounds them (positive or negative).
Top 50 Overall Buzz Rankings for recent months:
- December 2009 (#1 Rank: Kimbo Slice)
- November 2009 (#1 Rank: Fedor Emelianenko)
- October 2009 (#1 Rank: Lyoto Machida)
- September 2009 (#1 Rank: Kimbo Slice)
| January Rank | Fighter | December to January Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brock Lesnar | Up 3 |
| 2 | Fedor Emelianenko | Up 4 |
| 3 | Quinton “Rampage” Jackson | Up 9 |
| 4 | Anderson Silva | Up 11 |
| 5 | Herschel Walker | New |
| 6 | Bobby Lashley | Up 13 |
| 7 | Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson | Down 6 |
| 8 | Randy Couture | Up 19 |
| 9 | Rashad Evans | Up 5 |
| 10 | Lyoto Machida | Up 6 |
| 11 | Georges St. Pierre | Up 2 |
| 12 | Chuck Liddell | Up 6 |
| 13 | Frank Mir | Down 8 |
| 14 | Mark Coleman | Up 53 |
| 15 | Ken Shamrock | Up 36 |
| 16 | Tito Ortiz | Up 4 |
| 17 | Wanderlei Silva | Up 23 |
| 18 | BJ Penn | Down 16 |
| 19 | Thiago Silva | Up 2 |
| 20 | Alistair Overeem | Up 9 |
| 21 | Forrest Griffin | Up 10 |
| 22 | Vitor Belfort | Up 23 |
| 23 | Andrei Arlovski | Up 16 |
| 24 | Paul Daley | Up 56 |
| 25 | Junior Dos Santos | Up 37 |
| 26 | Nick Diaz | Up 23 |
| 27 | Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic | Up 77 |
| 28 | Gina Carano | Up 16 |
| 29 | Mauricio “Shogun” Rua | Up 9 |
| 30 | Dan Hardy | No Change |
| 31 | Matt Hughes | Down 3 |
| 32 | Shane Carwin | Up 2 |
| 33 | Gegard Mousasi | Up 4 |
| 34 | Dan Henderson | Down 9 |
| 35 | Bob Sapp | Up 23 |
| 36 | Shinya Aoki | Up 17 |
| 37 | Diego Sanchez | Down 34 |
| 38 | Urijah Faber | Up 33 |
| 39 | C.B. Dollaway | Up 283 |
| 40 | Takanori Gomi | Up 142 |
| 41 | Gray Maynard | Up 91 |
| 42 | Renzo Gracie | Up 1 |
| 43 | Cung Le | Down 32 |
| 44 | Fabricio Werdum | Up 37 |
| 45 | Roy Nelson | Down 37 |
| 46 | Jason Miller | Up 2 |
| 47 | Wes Sims | Up 60 |
| 48 | Gilbert Yvel | Down 13 |
| 49 | Frankie Edgar | Up 119 |
| 50 | Josh Koscheck | Down 14 |
Dropped out of Top 50:
Keith Jardine (#56), Jon Jones (#58), Houston Alexander (#68), Clay Guida (#74), Cheick Kongo (#75), Jon Fitch (#76), Kenny Florian (#85), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (#90), Matt Mitrione (#101), Stefan Struve (#117), Brendan Schaub (#123), Matt Hamill (#127), Marcus Jones (#133), Scott Smith (#134), Muhammed Lawal (#152)
[...] January MMA Buzz Rankings: Brock Lesnar's Recovery Share and [...]
[...] 50 Overall Buzz Rankings for recent months: – January 2010 (#1 Rank: Brock Lesnar) – December 2009 (#1 Rank: Kimbo Slice) – November 2009 (#1 Rank: Fedor [...]