By Gregory Saks on March 12, 2010
Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva remained the two most buzzed about middleweight fighters from January to February. Wanderlei’s solid victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 110 kept him in the limelight, while fans are anxious for “The Spider” to return when defends his belt against Demian Maia at UFC 112. Both Maia and [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged anderson silva, chael sonnen, demian maia, middle, middleweights, wanderlei silva
By Gregory Saks on March 10, 2010
Randy Couture became the most buzzed about light heavyweight fighter in MMA in February following his flawless performance and victory over Mark Coleman at UFC 109. The over-matched Coleman came in second in the divisional buzz rankings, while last month’s leader Quinton Jackson fell to third. Ryan Bader also made a big move, [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged light heavyweights, mark coleman, quinton jackson, randy couture
By Gregory Saks on March 9, 2010
Fedor Emelianenko returned to the top of the overall buzz rankings for February, and by definition also to the top of the heavyweight division. Emelianenko is increasingly of interest to mainstream MMA fans despite not having been active since his November 2009 win over Brett Rogers. Brock Lesnar dropped one spot to second, [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged brock lesnar, cain velasquez, fedor, heavyweights
By Gregory Saks on March 8, 2010
Fedor Emelianenko inched above Brock Lesnar to become the most buzzed about MMA fighter in the month of February, returning to the spot that the Russian heavyweight last held in November. Emelianenko has increasingly become a source of intrigue and curiosity for casual MMA fans, as evidenced by his first-place ranking two months subsequent [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged brock lesnar, buzz, fedor
By Gregory Saks on March 1, 2010
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% [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged fan interest, thiago silva
By Gregory Saks on February 27, 2010
Strikeforce gained some ground in MMA fan interest in January due to the hype surrounding its January 31st Miami card and the debut of former NFL star Herschel Walker. Walker, along with fellow star Bobby Lashley, helped create a surge in casual fan interest in the event and the promotion, enough to gain over [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged dream, k1, strikeforce, ufc, wec
By Gregory Saks on February 24, 2010
The light heavyweight division gained ground on other weight classes in January, bouyed by the UFC 108 clash between Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva. Collectively, 205 pound fighters represented 19.1% of all MMA fan interest in the month, 2.4 point increase from December and second only to the heavyweights with 29.7% of MMA interest. [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged light heavyweights, rashad evans, thiago silva
By Gregory Saks on February 23, 2010
Miguel Torres returned to the top of the bantamweight divisional buzz rankings in January after having been temporarily dislodged in December by Rani Yahya. While Yahya quickly dropped back down to eighth in the rankings, Torres continues to be a mainstay for the division and one of the poster boys of the WEC organization. [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged bantamweights, brian bowles, dominick cruz, miguel torres
By Gregory Saks on February 22, 2010
The top three spots for the featherweight buzz rankings were unchanged from December to January as Urijah Faber, Jose Aldo, and Jens Pulver held a lock on fan interest for 145 pound fighters. With Faber and Aldo set to clash at WEC 48, the promotion’s first ever pay-per-view event, the interest level for the [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged featherweights, jens pulver, jose aldo, urijah faber
By Gregory Saks on February 21, 2010
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 [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged bj penn, lightweights, shinya aoki, takanori gomi
