By Gregory Saks on January 21, 2010
Lightweight fighters took center stage in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts in December, enjoying a surge in fan interest in the weight class following several high-profile bouts. BJ Penn’s successful title defense against Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 was the most notable bout, but other contests including Clay Guida against Kenny Florian and [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged lightweights, popularity
By Gregory Saks on October 11, 2009
As evidenced by the action level during most WEC fights, competitors in the smaller weight classes can put on an incredible show. Despite this, the majority of MMA fans remain focused on heavier weight classes. The latest set of numbers show that 54% of all MMA fan interest is for fighters in the [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged fan interest, mma, popularity, weight classes
By Gregory Saks on October 8, 2009
A revolving carousel of fighters draws fan interest and buzz from month to month, depending on the marquee fights set to air. Brock Lesnar topped the rankings in July with his UFC 100 main event; Lesnar was then supplanted by Gina Carano’s Strikeforce megafight in August. Over the long term, however, a relatively [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged fan interest, mma, popularity, rankings
By Gregory Saks on October 5, 2009
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the 800 pound gorilla in the sport of MMA and its events and fighters capture the majority of fan interest. The UFC stayed atop the Tapology Promoter Rankings for August by a wide margin, yet Strikeforce made a big jump with a five percentage point gain in fan MMA [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged popularity, rankings, regional, strikeforce, ufc, wec
By Gregory Saks on October 4, 2009
With her Strikeforce main event bout against Cristiane Santos in August, Gina Carano showed she has what it takes to ignite MMA fan interest and generate some serious buzz. Despite losing via first round TKO to the Brazilian powerhouse, Carano still jumped to the top of Tapology’s fighter popularity rankings for August. Pushing Brock Lesnar [...]
Posted in Rankings | Tagged gina carano, mma, popularity, rankings, strikeforce
