Anderson Silva | Source: MMAWeekly.com
Anderson Silva generated a wave of MMA fan buzz both preceding and subsequent to his UFC 112 main event title defense against Demian Maia, and became the most focused upon fighter of the month. The middleweight champion’s antic-laden and arguably disrespectful in-ring behavior against an over-matched opponent led to furious fans and UFC officials and mountains of press coverage. Falling from the top spot was heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, now two months out from his comeback title defense against Shane Carwin. Big movers in the month include Tito Ortiz and his return to the Ultimate Fighter TV series, and both Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber who main-evented the WEC’s first ever pay per view event. Top fighters including Jon Jones, Junior Dos Santos, and Takanori Gomi were unable to hold onto fan interest in the month following their last bouts and fell from the top 50. Full list 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 50 Overall Buzz Rankings for recent months:
- March 2010 (#1 Rank: Brock Lesnar)
- February 2010 (#1 Rank: Fedor Emelianenko)
- January 2010 (#1 Rank: Brock Lesnar)
| April Rank | Fighter | Change From Last Month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderson Silva | Up 6 |
| 2 | Fedor Emelianenko | Up 1 |
| 3 | Brock Lesnar | Down 2 |
| 4 | Tito Ortiz | Up 11 |
| 5 | Georges St. Pierre | Down 3 |
| 6 | Kevin Ferguson | Up 2 |
| 7 | Chuck Liddell | Up 6 |
| 8 | Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson | Up 9 |
| 9 | Urijah Faber | Up 30 |
| 10 | Randy Couture | No Change |
| 11 | Lyoto Machida | Up 3 |
| 12 | Quinton “Rampage” Jackson | Down 1 |
| 13 | Jose Aldo | Up 58 |
| 14 | Dan Henderson | Up 22 |
| 15 | Matt Hughes | Up 7 |
| 16 | Jake Shields | Up 45 |
| 17 | Shane Carwin | Down 13 |
| 18 | Renzo Gracie | Up 10 |
| 19 | Jason Miller | Up 33 |
| 20 | Demian Maia | Up 9 |
| 21 | Chael Sonnen | Up 66 |
| 22 | Frankie Edgar | Up 61 |
| 23 | Forrest Griffin | Up 4 |
| 24 | Wanderlei Silva | Down 4 |
| 25 | Alistair Overeem | Down 4 |
| 26 | Frank Mir | Down 20 |
| 27 | Ken Shamrock | Down 3 |
| 28 | Roy Nelson | Up 6 |
| 29 | Mauricio “Shogun” Rua | Up 6 |
| 30 | Rashad Evans | Down 7 |
| 31 | Bobby Lashley | Down 13 |
| 32 | Gegard Mousasi | Up 12 |
| 33 | Mariusz Pudzianowski | New |
| 34 | Tim Sylvia | Down 15 |
| 35 | Vitor Belfort | Up 7 |
| 36 | Rich Franklin | Up 13 |
| 37 | Shinya Aoki | Up 13 |
| 38 | Andrei Arlovski | Down 7 |
| 39 | Nick Diaz | Up 12 |
| 40 | Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic | Up 28 |
| 41 | Muhammed Lawal | Up 53 |
| 42 | Fabricio Werdum | Up 3 |
| 43 | Gina Carano | Down 6 |
| 44 | Kenny Florian | Up 16 |
| 45 | Josh Koscheck | Down 5 |
| 46 | Matt Mitrione | No Change |
| 47 | Cain Velasquez | Down 22 |
| 48 | Paul Daley | Up 9 |
| 49 | Diego Sanchez | Down 1 |
| 50 | Dan Hardy | Down 45 |
Dropped out of Top 50:
Bob Sapp (#52), Jon Jones (#53), Junior Dos Santos (#56), Takanori Gomi (#59), Thiago Alves (#66), Matt Serra (#67), Jon Fitch (#75), Brandon Vera (#79), Cheick Kongo (#80), Jens Pulver (#84), Gabriel Gonzaga (#98)
