Anderson Silva returned to the top of the middleweight divisional buzz rankings in January, bumping Strikeforce fighter Cung Le from his December perch. Le, who was knocked out by Scott Smith in December, dropped to sixth among middleweights. Wanderlei Silva rose three spots to come in second, while Vitor Belfort came in third as part of his anticipated title bout at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. With Belfort pulling out of the title fight due to injury, his replacement Demian Maia currently sits at 17th in the rankings. Chael Sonnen, also rumored to be in contention for a shot against Anderson Silva, is just above Maia in 16th for fan buzz. 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 Middleweight Buzz Rankings for recent months:
- December 2009 (#1 Rank: Cung Le)
- November 2009 (#1 Rank: Anderson Silva)
- October 2009 (#1 Rank: Anderson Silva)
- September 2009 (#1 Rank: Vitor Belfort)
| January Rank |
Middleweight Fighter | December to January Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderson Silva | Up 1 |
| 2 | Wanderlei Silva | Up 3 |
| 3 | Vitor Belfort | Up 3 |
| 4 | Dan Henderson | No Change |
| 5 | C.B. Dollaway | Up 58 |
| 6 | Cung Le | Down 5 |
| 7 | Jason “Mayhem” Miller | No Change |
| 8 | Michael Bisping | Up 9 |
| 9 | Frank Shamrock | Up 3 |
| 10 | Melvin Manhoef | Up 1 |
| 11 | Nate Marquardt | Up 7 |
| 12 | Chris Leben | Up 11 |
| 13 | Jake Shields | Up 3 |
| 14 | Kazushi Sakuraba | Up 6 |
| 15 | Robbie Lawler | No Change |
| 16 | Chael Sonnen | Up 21 |
| 17 | Demian Maia | Up 16 |
| 18 | Yoshihiro Akiyama | Up 9 |
| 19 | Mark Munoz | Up 39 |
| 20 | Tom Lawlor | Up 29 |
Dropped out of Top 20:
Scott Smith (#21), James Irvin (#25), Alan Belcher (#29), Ronaldo Souza (#36), Rousimar Palhares (#62)
[...] 20 Middleweight Buzz Rankings for recent months: – January 2010 (#1 Rank: Anderson Silva) – December 2009 (#1 Rank: Cung Le) – November 2009 (#1 Rank: Anderson [...]
[...] 20 Middleweight Buzz Rankings for recent months: – February 2010 (#1 Rank: Anderson Silva) – January 2010 (#1 Rank: Anderson Silva) – December 2009 (#1 Rank: Cung [...]