The Web’s Top 29 MMA Fighters

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If you were to lurk around Twitter, sniffing for MMA fighters, you’d quickly recognize that the gentle, poetic brutes of MMA (or, Mixed Martial Arts; associated most closely in the minds of the public with the world famous UFC promotion) have plenty to say in 140 characters or less.

The various whereabouts, as well as the thoughts and musings of many of the sport’s biggest names are provided in a virtually perpetual and steady social media stream. Similarly, their comings, goings, wins, and losses are all well-documented and reported upon via countless websites, podcasts, and blogs, all scattered throughout the ether.

The fighters’ evident gratitude to their fans is constantly being expressed in nearly real time, and the fans are nearly always commenting in response.

Simply, MMA is a sport where the athletes are incredibly active online, where the sport’s rapid ascent in popularity is, in part, attributable to the accessibility of its fighters (both online and off), and where — among its athletes — a large digital footprint (a concept explained in full here) is the norm.

So, with this in mind, we’re taking our PeekScore scale — our at-a-glance measurement of digital footprints — to look at those MMA fighters, both active and retired, who are most prominent, written of, followed, active, and influential here in cyberspace. These are the MMA fighters who are, in short, the biggest deals on the Internet; not necessarily in the octagon, nor even in the world at large.

Clicking on the items on the list below will take you to the corresponding fighter’s PeekYou profile, where you’ll find an array of links pointing to the far flung corners of cyberspace where the best of his or her life and career can be explored.

 

Rank Picture Name Served PeekScore
1 Georges St-Pierre Former UFC Welterweight Champion. 9.61 / 10.00
2 Anderson Silva Silva is the former UFC Middleweight Champion. 8.80 / 10.00
3 Chuck Liddell Now retired, UFC Hall of Famer, appeared last year on Dancing with the Stars. 8.50 / 10.00
4 Randy Couture Three-time former UFC Heavyweight, and two-time former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion. 8.38 / 10.00
5 Vitor Belfort Vitor is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. 8.30 / 10.00
6 Jon Bones Jones Jon Bones Jones is the current UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion. 8.21 / 10.00
7 Tito Ortiz Along with Couture and Liddell, Ortiz is one of the sport’s earliest stars. A former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, he is now the CEO of the Punishment Athletics MMA equipment and clothing line. 8.20 / 10.00
8 Ronda Rousey Current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, as well as the last Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion. 8.20 / 10.00
9 Junior dos Santos Junior is currently ranked the number two heavyweight in the world. 8.19 / 10.00
10 Chael Sonnen Sonnen was an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at the University of Oregon, and a silver medalist at the 2000 Greco-Roman World University Championships. 8.18 / 10.00
11 BJ Penn Penn was the first non-Brazilian winner of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the black-belt category, as well as a former UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Welterweight Champion. 8.15 / 10.00
12 Forrest Griffin Forrest is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. 8.14 / 10.00
13 Chris Weidman Chris is the current UFC Middleweight Champion. 8.13 / 10.00
14 Jason Miller The flamboyant “Mayhem” Miller is the host of MTV’s Bully Beatdown. 8.11 / 10.00
15 Cain Velasquez He is the former 2-time UFC Heavyweight Champion. 8.08 / 10.00
16 Wanderlei Silva Silva is the former IVC Light heavyweight Champion, former PRIDE Middleweight Champion, and the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Winner. 8.06 / 10.00
17 Rashad Evans Evans was the heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter 2. 8.06 / 10.00
18 Quinton Jackson Rampage Jackson is a former UFC Light-Heavyweight title holder, and one of the stars of that A-Team movie which came out a year, or so, ago. 8.05 / 10.00
19 Roy Nelson The winner of Season 10 of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter, Nelson was also the last International Fight League Heavyweight Champion. 8.04 / 10.00
20 Rich Franklin Franklin is the former UFC Middleweight Champion. 8.03 / 10.00
21 Lyoto Machida Maia currently fights as a welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. 8.01 / 10.00
22 Demian Maia Maia currently fights as a welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. 7.99 / 10.00
23 Rodrigo Nogueira Former Lineal Mixed Martial Arts Champions 7.93 / 10.00
24 Frankie Edgar Edgar has never been finished in MMA competition. 7.92 / 10.00
25 Mauricio Rua Rua is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. 7.81 / 10.00
26 Urijah Faber Faber is the former WEC featherweight champion. 7.65 / 10.00
27 Jose Aldo Current UFC Featherweight Champion. 7.39 / 10.00
28 Miesha Tate Former Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion. 7.33 / 10.00
29 Fabricio Werdum Current UFC Heavyweight Champion. 7.32 / 10.00