By Gregory Saks on May 17, 2010
Georges St-Pierre remained the most buzzed about welterweight MMA fighter for the fifth consecutive month in April, a full month following his last title fight against Dan Hardy. Hardy dropped six spots to eighth place, a reasonably strong ability to hold onto his now-past title fight buzz. Coming in second and third were UFC 112 [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, welterweights
By Gregory Saks on May 14, 2010
Anderson Silva remained the most buzzed about middleweight fighter for the fourth straight month in April, boosted by the pre-fight excitement and post-fight controversy surrounding his UFC 112 bout against Demian Maia. Jumping into the next three slots, however, were a trio of Strikeforce middleweights. Dan Henderson, Jake Shields, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller came in [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, middleweights
By Gregory Saks on May 13, 2010
Tito Ortiz became the most buzzed about light heavyweight fighter in MMA in April following his return to television airwaves as a coach on the Ultimate Fighter reality show, as well as a much-publicized domestic issue involving his partner Jenna Jameson. Chuck Liddell, coaching opposite Ortiz on the show, rose to second place, while Randy [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, light heavyweights
By Gregory Saks on May 12, 2010
Amid swirling reports of when and if he would return to the Strikeforce cage to fight again, Fedor Emelianenko rose to once again be the most buzzed about heavyweight division in the sport in April. While an agreement is apparently now in place for Fedor to indeed return and take on Fabricio Werdum for Strikeforce [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, heavyweights
By Gregory Saks on May 10, 2010
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 [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings
By Gregory Saks on April 22, 2010
The welterweight division rose in prominence for MMA fans in March following the high-profile UFC 111 main event between Georges St-Pierre and Dan Hardy in Newark, New Jersey. The successful title defense for GSP drove the 170 pound division to capture nearly 20% of all MMA interest in the month, up four points from February [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, welterweights
By Gregory Saks on April 19, 2010
Miguel Torres stayed atop the bantamweight divisional buzz rankings for March for the third straight month, holding off the charge of new champion Dominick Cruz who rose one more spot to second place following his victory over Brian Bowles at WEC 47. Bowles came in third in the rankings, while other contenders Joseph Benavidez and [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged bantamweights, buzz rankings
By Gregory Saks on April 16, 2010
“The California Kid” Urijah Faber remained the most popular featherweight fighter in MMA in March, holding his edge over fellow high-profile 145-pounders including Jens Pulver and champion Jose Aldo. While Faber will step into his April 24th bout against Aldo as the challenger, the buzz rankings demonstrate that it is the former divisional kingpin who [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, featherweights
By Gregory Saks on April 15, 2010
BJ Penn stayed atop the lightweight divisional buzz rankings in March, marking four straight months where he was the most sought after fighter in the division. Japanese fighters Takanori Gomi and Shinya Aoki took the second and third spots, respectively. While Gomi’s Fight Night 21 bout against Kenny Florian resulted in a loss for the [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, lightweights
By Gregory Saks on April 14, 2010
Georges St-Pierre remained the most buzzed about welterweight MMA fighter for the fourth consecutive month in March, holding all other 170-pounders at bay including his UFC 111 challenger Dan Hardy. Hardy, who came up short in his challenge to St-Pierre, came in second, while Matt Hughes came in third just ahead of his UFC 112 [...]
Posted in Industry Analysis | Tagged buzz rankings, welterweights