Paul Daley became the most buzzed about welterweight fighter in May, ending five straight months of Georges St. Pierre holding the position. With Daley becoming frustrated with his smothering opponent at UFC 114 and throwing a punch after the bell, he drew a huge amount of negative publicity and unfortunately was cut by the organization. His opponent, the also controversial Josh Koscheck, came in second in the rankings. Koscheck’s win over Daley puts him next in line for a title shot against St. Pierre, who slipped to third overall. With an upcoming season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ structured around Koscheck and St. Pierre as coaches, their title fight is likely to draw a huge amount of casual fan interest. 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 Welterweight Buzz Rankings for recent months:
- April 2010 (#1 Rank: Georges St. Pierre)
- March 2010 (#1 Rank: Georges St. Pierre)
- February 2010 (#1 Rank: Georges St. Pierre)
| May Rank | Welterweight Fighter | Change From Last Month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Daley | Up 5 |
| 2 | Josh Koscheck | Up 3 |
| 3 | Georges St. Pierre | Down 2 |
| 4 | Diego Sanchez | Up 3 |
| 5 | Matt Hughes | Down 3 |
| 6 | Nick Diaz | Down 2 |
| 7 | John Hathaway | Up 8 |
| 8 | Dan Hardy | No Change |
| 9 | Amir Sadollah | Up 3 |
| 10 | Thiago Alves | Down 1 |
| 11 | Matt Serra | Down 1 |
| 12 | Jon Fitch | Down 1 |
| 13 | Paulo Thiago | No Change |
| 14 | Marcus Davis | Up 6 |
| 15 | Renzo Gracie | Down 12 |
| 16 | Karo Parisyan | Down 2 |
| 17 | Ricardo Almeida | Up 4 |
| 18 | Anthony Johnson | Up 7 |
| 19 | Dustin Hazelett | Up 20 |
| 20 | Yoshiyuki Yoshida | Up 7 |
Dropped out of Top 20:
Frank Trigg (#21), Hayato Sakurai (#27), War Machine (#33), DaMarques Johnson (#38)
