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.
Nationality fan interest for recent months:
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
| January Share of Fan Interest |
Fighter Nationality | December to January Change |
|---|---|---|
| 59.3% | United States | down 4.2% |
| 14.8% | Brazil | up 2.5% |
| 4.6% | Japan | up 1.0% |
| 3.4% | Russia | up 1.4% |
| 3.2% | United Kingdom | up 0.8% |
| 2.8% | Canada | - |
| 2.8% | Netherlands | - |
| 1.6% | Bahamas | down 1.7% |
| 0.9% | Armenia | - |
| 0.9% | Croatia | - |
| 0.9% | Belarus | - |
| 0.6% | Australia | - |
| 0.6% | Vietnam | - |
| 0.4% | France | - |
| 3.0% | Other |
[...] fan interest for recent months: – January 2010 – December 2009 – November [...]