MMA Fans Focusing on Larger Weight Classes (Tapology)

by Steven T. Kelliher on Oct 11, 2009 12:42 PM EDT Comment 31 comments

According to new data released over at Tapology, the old stereotypes regarding heavyweight champions--and heavier fighters in general--garnering the vast majority of press and fan attention appears to have some merit. The numbers below reflect fan interest by weight class for the month of August, 2009.

August 2009
Share of Fan Interest Weight Class Change
from July

1.4% Super Heavyweight – Over 265 lbs down 0.4%

27.3% Heavyweight – 265 lbs down 9.8%

26.4% Light Heavyweight – 205 lbs up 4.7%

16.4% Middleweight – 185 lbs up 0.1%

11.4% Welterweight – 170 lbs up 0.2%

12.1% Lightweight – 155 lbs up 2.8%

2.4% Featherweight – 145 lbs up 0.7%

2.4% Bantamweight – 135 lbs up 1.7%

August 2009 Share of Fan Interest	Weight Class	Change from July
1.4%	Super Heavyweight – Over 265 lbs	down 0.4%
27.3%	Heavyweight – 265 lbs	down 9.8%
26.4%	Light Heavyweight – 205 lbs	up 4.7%
16.4%	Middleweight – 185 lbs	up 0.1%
11.4%	Welterweight – 170 lbs	up 0.2%
12.1%	Lightweight – 155 lbs	up 2.8%
2.4%	Featherweight – 145 lbs	up 0.7%
2.4%	Bantamweight – 135 lbs	up 1.7%

About Tapology:

Tapology’s rankings are a measure of fan interest and activity. Tapology uses data from Compete, Inc. to directly capture the level of internet users reading about and looking at over 800 of the biggest names in mixed martial arts. Activity is aggregated across multiple websites and represents an actual measurement of millions of consumers. The rankings represent United States fans only; the activity of non-U.S. consumers is not included.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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really interesting stuff!

thanks for sharing at BE

Follow me on Twitter @KidNate

by Kid Nate on Oct 11, 2009 1:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How did you come up with these results?

by dumbwhiteguy on Oct 11, 2009 1:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Read the disclosure at the bottom of the article.

Tapology uses data from their partner company, Complete Inc., which specializes in online data gathering—among other things—in order to get a proper aggregated percentage on a wide array of statistics.

Unlike Google results, these statistics are backed by a more complicated system of trending and related topic searches, resulting in a much more accurate gauge of fan interest.

by Steven T. Kelliher on Oct 11, 2009 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry, maybe I should have been more specific. So it just trends search results?

by dumbwhiteguy on Oct 11, 2009 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Search results, Web site traffic on topics related to MMA and specific fighters etc. It is meant to be a much more accurate version of Google trends, with more specific data gathered by Complete Inc.

by Steven T. Kelliher on Oct 11, 2009 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good post.

This isn’t surprising, but it kinda sucks that the excitement of the actual fights is often the inverse of these results. Hopefully, people will come to realize that the lighter weight classes often have the best scraps.

by Kwisatz Haderach on Oct 11, 2009 2:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed, at least for the most part.

I think the light heavyweight division usually has exciting battles, but my favorites are the welterweight and lightweight divisions, but more welterweight. I think that division—overall—has the perfect blend of athleticism and skill.

by Steven T. Kelliher on Oct 11, 2009 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sure, I’m a bit over the top there. There’s exciting fights at all levels. I guess I’d just like to see more balance in interest.. The size of the fighter, it seems to me, doesn’t matter that much on television. I think it’s mostly a matter of promotion, and the UFC bringing in top fighters in the lighter classes, and pushing them more with features, countdowns, and whatever else, could level the playing field to a substantial degree.

by Kwisatz Haderach on Oct 11, 2009 7:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

One word

BROCKLESNAR!

Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.

by ufc4 on Oct 11, 2009 3:45 PM EDT via mobile reply actions 0 recs

and yes he is the big cheese
http://www.tapology.com/2009/10/50-fighters-half-of-mma-interest/

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 11, 2009 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow, people are still interested in Ken Shamrock?

Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.

by ufc4 on Oct 11, 2009 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

grab an average person on the street and ask them if they’ve heard of jake shields (or a similar fighter) and then ask them if they’ve heard of ken shamrock.

promoters know he’s a draw and that’s why they’ve been happy to keep putting him in big fights. kimbo slice vs ken shamrock? HUGE. as ridiculous as it is.

on that note, i wonder if the UFC would sell out try and put that together again even though shamrock is so ridiculously past his prime.

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 11, 2009 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

There’s no way, especially after coming off a positive roids test. Why bother with Kimbo vs. Ken when they could do Kimbo vs. Chuck?

Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.

by ufc4 on Oct 11, 2009 7:09 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

good point on the positive test.

the rationale for kimbo/ken i think would be the same one that strikeforce was thinking at the time: kimbo would smash ken in potentially highlight reel fashion.

THEN you schedule kimbo-chuck and $$$

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 11, 2009 8:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah but I’m sure they could find someone with less baggage for Kimbo to smash if they wanna go that route. Probably won’t have the name recognition of Ken but I’m not sure that’s really all that important, as long as Kimbo is fighting it will be huge.

Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.

by ufc4 on Oct 11, 2009 8:59 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Ken blew it for the last time

screwing over EliteXC with last minute money demands and then going to the hospital to get stitches for a cut any pro fighter would know to seal up with superglue was dumb enough, but screwing over CBS like that is the kind of thing that gets a fighter blackballed permanently from the major leagues. If you think no one will invest money in promoting a Nick Diaz fight, NO ONE will invest money promoting a big league Ken Shamrock fight again. He’s done.

Follow me on Twitter @KidNate

by Kid Nate on Oct 11, 2009 11:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

no argument… got on this topic to explain why shamrock was so high on our rankings.

i do not want to see him fight.

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 12, 2009 12:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is why PPV in the WEC is a terrible idea.

Visit MMAEruption.com!

by MMAEruption on Oct 11, 2009 7:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

agreed, though i think mayweather, manny p, etc… are evidence that you can indeed successfully promote smaller fighters.

but right now zuffa is not even close.

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 11, 2009 8:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah you can promote smaller guys-IF people have actually heard of them. I don’t think right now a GOOD WEC PPV could get 100,000 buys, even if it had Faber and Torres and it was priced at $29.

Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.

by ufc4 on Oct 11, 2009 9:07 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

What if Brown AND Faber fought (not each other) as headliner/co-headliner on a UFC card?

by Shaun32887 on Oct 11, 2009 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

325,000 buys. If Brown fought Faber and Bowles fought Torres they might pull 400,000.

Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.

by ufc4 on Oct 11, 2009 10:45 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Every one of these tapology trends makes me raise an eyebrow

GSP garnered the least interest out of all the UFC champions? I think the time scale is too short for a lot of these data sets; it means local events weigh in too heavily.

I’d like to see data over the last few years, that looks at the popularity of the division champion, whoever it is, over time. That should cancel the results of local events and also cancel the popularity of specific fighters; it would make it a more accurate correlation between weight class and popularity.

by Shaun32887 on Oct 11, 2009 9:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ohhhh…. the numbers have nothing to do with the pictures, those are just illustrations.

trust me the data is accurate, but the problem is it can be very easily used incorrectly. the word popularity is not appropriate to use when looking at those figures.

think of it as buzz, interest. what fighters are people checking out online? now group them by weight class and at it all up.

i guarantee you (and i have the data to prove it) that there is more overall buzz/interest in brock+kimbo+fedor+lashley+mir+carwin, etc… than there is for welterweights. the exact numbers are above: HW’s gets 27% of interest, and WW’s get 11%

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 11, 2009 10:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not talking about the pictures

The data is just for August. I’d be willing to be that the lower weight classes would get most of the interest if this was for January 09 and not August, due to UFC 94.

Sorry if I keep questioning these things, I’m just always wary when I see statistics. I’m sure you’re right, that the heavier weight classes do get more interest, but I wouldn’t draw that conclusion from this set of data.

by Shaun32887 on Oct 11, 2009 11:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That is not really the conclusion being drawn from this data. Rather, this is as close to an accurate representation of fan interest by weight class for the month of August alone. That’s all it is. Nobody made any claims of other months. Be sure to check back when GSP headlines in January or February of 2010 and I’m sure his personal popularity—and that of the welterweight division as a whole—will have a huge spike during the lead-up to that fight.

by Steven T. Kelliher on Oct 11, 2009 11:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’d be willing to be that the lower weight classes would get most of the interest if this was for January 09 and not August, due to UFC 94.

Good theory, but not January specifically because of Affliction 2 with Fedor/Arlovski/Barnett all in the middle of that month. UFC 94 took place on the last day of the month 1/31, so it ended up impacting the February numbers more. WW interest spiked up in Feb big time, but it still didn’t eclipse the HW’s or the LHW’s.

Note that we’re not talking about interest among hardcore fans / BE readers. There are only so many of those people. What drives these numbers is the millions of average joe’s out there. Even a few days after a huge StPierre/Penn fight, the average guy is still far more likely to go online and look up Brock Lesnar, Kimbo Slice, Chuck Liddell, or Tito Ortiz.

Anyway, asking questions is a good thing, fire away.

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 12, 2009 12:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

When are you gonna come up with data for September? does it take a long time to process since it’s way more detailed than Google?

weoweoweo .deviantart .com -- @antontabuena

by Anton Tabuena on Oct 12, 2009 4:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

next week september stuff comes out

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 12, 2009 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is really interesting but a couple problems jump out at me.

First the fact that Canada is not included is a pretty significant factor. Per capita its a very significant MMA market with the same population as California.

Also the data collected might be inherently flawed.
From the Compete Inc website:

Compete is a new breed of web analytics company. We have a diverse sample of 2,000,000+ U.S. Internet users that have given us permission to analyze the web pages they visit and ask them questions via surveys. We’re betting that the insights we create from consumers’ online behavior – whether they’re watching, searching, shopping or socializing – is valuable for companies who are looking to radically improve their marketing.

The fact that these users have given permission to analyze their browsing patterns means that they are probably not an average user. This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing the average person would agree to.

I dislike Matt Hughes.

by MonkeyCHops on Oct 13, 2009 2:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

you gotta figure the gsp factor alone would bump the welterweight percentages in canada. it kinda helps your public awareness when gatorade is running ads for you up there. but when you take away gsp i’m not sure how different it would look.

mma just tracks a truth boxing promoters have known for decades — the heavyweights are the biggest draw, particularly when you have legit stars on your hands. it wouldn’t be any different in canada.

by Jeremy S. on Oct 13, 2009 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs