BJ Penn stayed atop the lightweight divisional buzz rankings in February, holding off the surge in interest in fellow 155 pound fighter George Sotiropoulos who rose 16 spots to second place in the division. Sotiropoulos defeated Joe Stevenson at UFC 110 in his home country of Australia and generated a surge of fan interest for the dominating performance. Japanese fighters Takanori Gomi and Shinya Aoki, who will be making their UFC and Strikeforce debuts shortly, lost some degree of fan interest but remained generally popular during the month. 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:
- January 2010 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn)
- December 2009 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn)
- November 2009 (#1 Rank: Diego Sanchez)
| February Rank |
Lightweight Fighter | January to February Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BJ Penn | No Change |
| 2 | George Sotiropoulos | Up 16 |
| 3 | Joe Stevenson | Up 10 |
| 4 | Takanori Gomi | Down 1 |
| 5 | Clay Guida | Up 2 |
| 6 | Shinya Aoki | Down 4 |
| 7 | Kenny Florian | Up 1 |
| 8 | Melvin Guillard | Up 14 |
| 9 | Frankie Edgar | Down 4 |
| 10 | Mac Danzig | Up 11 |
| 11 | Phillipe Nover | Up 16 |
| 12 | Sean Sherk | No Change |
| 13 | Roger Huerta | Up 2 |
| 14 | Gray Maynard | Down 10 |
| 15 | Tyson Griffin | Up 5 |
| 16 | Rob Emerson | Up 13 |
| 17 | Efrain Escudero | Down 11 |
| 18 | Justin Buchholz | Up 36 |
| 19 | Ronnys Torres | Up 32 |
| 20 | Eddie Alvarez | Up 5 |
Dropped out of Top 20:
Sam Stout (#25), Benson Henderson (#26), Jim Miller (#28), Cole Miller (#31), Evan Dunham (#34), Joe Lauzon (#35), Jamie Varner (#61)
[...] 20 Lightweight Buzz Rankings for recent months: – February 2010 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn) – January 2010 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn) – December 2009 (#1 Rank: BJ [...]
[...] 20 Lightweight Buzz Rankings for recent months: – March 2010 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn) – February 2010 (#1 Rank: BJ Penn) – January 2010 (#1 Rank: BJ [...]