Lyoto Machida jumped five spots to first place in the October fighter buzz rankings, pushing Kimbo Slice from his perch and demonstrating excellent ability to pull mainstream fan interest. “The Dragon” defeated fellow Brazilian Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event of UFC 104 on October 24th. The high profile bout was enough to move Machida into first place despite the enormous attention generated by Kimbo’s stint on the Ultimate Fighter reality show. Rua also shot up the rankings, jumping 21 spots to fourth place, as did several other UFC and Dream fighters who were active in the month.
October represents the second month where Machida topped the rankings, also having done so in May when he defeated Rashad Evans at UFC 98. This shows that while Machida struggled to win a controversial decision over Shogun Rua, that his exotic Karate-infused style strikes a chord with curious fans and positions him as an increasingly bankable star for the UFC.
UFC 104 co-main event participants Cain Velasquez and Ben Rothwell rose sharply in the buzz rankings, while inactive fighters that made a splash in September experienced steep drop-offs. Mirko Cro Cop, Junior Dos Santos, Paul Daley, Efrain Escudero, Roger Huerta, and Melvin Guillard each fell far out of the top 50 in October, an indication that their casual fan name recognition is still lacking as compared to the big names that stay on top even when inactive.
| October Rank |
Fighter | September to October Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyoto Machida | Up 5 |
| 2 | Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson | Down 1 |
| 3 | Brock Lesnar | Up 4 |
| 4 | Mauricio “Shogun” Rua | Up 21 |
| 5 | Fedor Emelianenko | Down 2 |
| 6 | Anderson Silva | Down 2 |
| 7 | Chuck Liddell | Up 2 |
| 8 | Bobby Lashley | Up 4 |
| 9 | Ben Rothwell | Up 48 |
| 10 | Vitor Belfort | Down 8 |
| 11 | Shane Carwin | Up 3 |
| 12 | Rashad Evans | Down 1 |
| 13 | Quinton “Rampage” Jackson | Down 8 |
| 14 | Tito Ortiz | Up 1 |
| 15 | Forrest Griffin | Up 11 |
| 16 | Roy Nelson | Down 8 |
| 17 | Cain Velasquez | Up 33 |
| 18 | Randy Couture | Down 5 |
| 19 | Andrei Arlovski | Up 4 |
| 20 | Gina Carano | Up 9 |
| 21 | Brett Rogers | No Change |
| 22 | Jason “Mayhem” Miller | Up 9 |
| 23 | Ken Shamrock | Down 3 |
| 24 | Anthony Johnson | Up 135 |
| 25 | Wanderlei Silva | Up 3 |
| 26 | Thiago Silva | Up 13 |
| 27 | Dan Henderson | No Change |
| 28 | Georges St. Pierre | Up 8 |
| 29 | Diego Sanchez | Down 7 |
| 30 | Bob Sapp | Up 10 |
| 31 | BJ Penn | Up 16 |
| 32 | Tim Sylvia | Down 8 |
| 33 | Frank Mir | Down 14 |
| 34 | Royce Gracie | Down 2 |
| 35 | Yoshiyuki Yoshida | Up 91 |
| 36 | Wes Wims | Down 20 |
| 37 | Marius Zaromskis | Up 76 |
| 38 | Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou | Up 50 |
| 39 | Bas Rutten | Up 58 |
| 40 | Shinya Aoki | Up 64 |
| 41 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Down 23 |
| 42 | Keith Jardine | Down 7 |
| 43 | Matt Hughes | Down 9 |
| 44 | Alistair Overeem | Up 12 |
| 45 | Brandon Vera | Up 21 |
| 46 | Gegard Mousasi | Up 30 |
| 47 | Joe Stevenson | Up 24 |
| 48 | Rich Franklin | Down 38 |
| 49 | Jake Shields | Up 42 |
| 50 | Houston Alexander | Up 58 |
Dropped out of Top 50:
Frank Shamrock (#54), Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (#56), Seth Petruzelli (#58), Nick Diaz (#59), Thiago Alves (#71), Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (#76), Ricardo Arona (#80), Efrain Escudero (#91), Junior Dos Santos (#95), Roger Huerta (#116), Frank Trigg (#156), Melvin Guillard (#166), Paul Daley (#176)
