BJ Penn stayed atop the lightweight divisional buzz rankings in January following his dominating performance over Diego Sanchez in December at UFC 107. Sanchez, who had earlier been the most buzzed about lightweight for several months previously, has now been excluded from the rankings and moved into the welterweight category. Japanese standouts Shinya Aoki and Takanori Gomi moved into second and third place. Aoki’s move came following his cringe-inducing submission victory at the Dynamite! 2009 show in Japan, while Gomi’s jump to the top of the leaderboard is connected with the announcement of his signing with the UFC and taking on Kenny Florian. Full Top 20 rankings are below.
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 20 Lightweight Buzz Rankings for recent months:
- December 2009 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn)
- November 2009 (#1 Rank: Diego Sanchez)
- October 2009 (#1 Rank: Diego Sanchez)
- September 2009 (#1 Rank: Diego Sanchez)
| January Rank |
Lightweight Fighter | December to January Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BJ Penn | No Change |
| 2 | Shinya Aoki | Up 2 |
| 3 | Takanori Gomi | Up 29 |
| 4 | Gray Maynard | Up 14 |
| 5 | Frankie Edgar | Up 22 |
| 6 | Efrain Escudero | Up 3 |
| 7 | Clay Guida | Down 5 |
| 8 | Kenny Florian | Down 5 |
| 9 | Benson Henderson | Up 29 |
| 10 | Sam Stout | Up 20 |
| 11 | Jamie Varner | Up 23 |
| 12 | Sean Sherk | Down 5 |
| 13 | Joe Stevenson | Down 2 |
| 14 | Joe Lauzon | Down 8 |
| 15 | Roger Huerta | No Change |
| 16 | Cole Miller | Up 28 |
| 17 | Evan Dunham | Up 16 |
| 18 | George Sotiropoulos | Up 2 |
| 19 | Jim Miller | Down 3 |
| 20 | Tyson Griffin | Up 6 |
Dropped out of Top 20:
Mac Danzig (#21), Duane Ludwig (#23), Eddie Alvarez (#26), Donald Cerrone (#28), Gilbert Melendez (#43), Mark Bocek (#56), Josh Thomson (#64), Chris Horodecki (#71)
[...] 20 Lightweight Buzz Rankings for recent months: – January 2010 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn) – December 2009 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn) – November 2009 (#1 Rank: Diego [...]