Urijah Faber | Source: MMAWeekly.com
“The California Kid” Urijah Faber remained the most popular featherweight fighter in MMA in April, making it the fifth straight month he has held the position despite the new sheriff in town, Jose Aldo, clearly having a strong hold over the division. Aldo, who defeated Faber in convincing fashion in the main event of the WEC 48 pay per view event, rose one spot to grab hold of second in the 145 pound buzz rankings. Former champion Mike Brown also rose one spot despite his loss on the same event, while perennial fan favorite Jens Pulver has finally started to show a declining ability to captivate fans, falling to fifth behind Manny Gamburyan. 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 Featherweight Buzz Rankings for recent months:
- March 2010 (#1 Rank: Urijah Faber)
- February 2010 (#1 Rank: Urijah Faber)
- January 2010 (#1 Rank: Urijah Faber)
| April Rank | Featherweight Fighter | Change From Last Month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urijah Faber | No Change |
| 2 | Jose Aldo | Up 1 |
| 3 | Mike Thomas Brown | Up 1 |
| 4 | Manny Gamburyan | Up 1 |
| 5 | Jens Pulver | Down 3 |
| 6 | Leonard Garcia | Up 2 |
| 7 | Chan Sung Jung | Up 24 |
| 8 | Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto | Up 2 |
| 9 | Cub Swanson | Up 5 |
| 10 | Chad Mendes | Up 10 |
| 11 | Joe Warren | Up 6 |
| 12 | Jeff Curran | Up 4 |
| 13 | Joachim Hansen | Down 4 |
| 14 | Bibiano Fernandes | Down 7 |
| 15 | Anthony Morrison | Up 9 |
| 16 | George Roop | Down 5 |
| 17 | Joe Soto | Up 6 |
| 18 | Masanori Kanehara | Up 3 |
| 19 | Michihiro Omigawa | No Change |
| 20 | Wilson Reis | Up 14 |
Dropped out of Top 20:
Javier Vazquez (#21), L.C. Davis (#23), Cole Escovedo (#30), Marlon Sandro (#38), Yoshiro Maeda (#39)
