By Gregory Saks on June 22, 2010
Urijah Faber remained the most popular featherweight fighter in MMA for the sixth straight month in May despite dropping his title challenge against Jose Aldo at WEC 48. Faber clearly remains the biggest draw in all of the WEC, and his upcoming move to bantamweight will no doubt add a boost in fan interest to [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, featherweights
By Gregory Saks on June 16, 2010
BJ Penn stayed atop the lightweight divisional buzz rankings in April for the sixth straight month, continuing his reign as the most popular 155 pound fighter despite now having to look up at Frankie Edgar as the divisional champion. The two fighters are scheduled to main event UFC 118 in Boston in August, and should [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, lightweights
By Gregory Saks on June 15, 2010
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. [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, welterweights
By Gregory Saks on June 14, 2010
Anderson Silva remained the most buzzed about middleweight fighter for the fifth straight month in May, showing that fans are still as intrigued with the super-talented Brazilian enigma as ever. Moving up five spots into second place was Wanderlei Silva who is now just a few weeks away from his next bout at UFC 116 [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, middleweights
By Gregory Saks on June 10, 2010
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was the most buzzed about MMA fighter overall for the month of May, and therefore by definition was also the most buzzed about light heavyweight. Jackson’s UFC 114 main event blockbuster against Rashad Evans is rumored to have pulled in over 900,000 pay per view buys, with a significant amount of credit [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, light heavyweights
By Gregory Saks on June 9, 2010
Kimbo Slice’s first and final UFC pay per view appearance rocketed him to the top of the heavyweight buzz rankings in May despite losing at the event to fellow TUF 10 alumnus Matt Mattrione. Slice has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to generate huge casual fan interest in his fights, and his UFC 114 main card [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, heavyweights
By Gregory Saks on June 8, 2010
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson rode the wave of publicity surrounding his feud with UFC 114 opponent Rashad Evans to the top of the MMA fighter buzz rankings in May. Jackson, who has increasingly been generating mainstream media attention for his activities on and off the set of the upcoming A-Team movie, was the driving force behind [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings
By Gregory Saks on May 20, 2010
Scott Jorgensen rose to become the most buzzed about bantamweight fighter in the month of April, bumping former champion Miguel Torres from the top after three straight months of holding the position. Jorgensen defeated Antonio Banuelos in a WEC 48 rematch and may soon be in line for a title shot against current champion Dominick [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged bantamweights, buzz rankings
By Gregory Saks on May 19, 2010
“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 [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, featherweights
By Gregory Saks on May 18, 2010
BJ Penn stayed atop the lightweight divisional buzz rankings in April for the fifth straight month, making him clearly the most popular 155 pound fighter despite his loss to new champion Frank Edgar. Edgar, who defeated Penn via decision at UFC 112, rose four spots to second in the rankings, ahead of Shinya Aoki who [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, lightweights