Top 5 MMA Fighters with the Quickest Turnaround in Fans

This is a list of the top five MMA fighters that have had drastic changes in their fanbases in short periods of time. They have either gained fans quickly, lost them or have flip-flopped in popularity.

This is not a complete list, nor does it reflect any negative connotations toward the fighters from the FC or this writer. MMA fans will always be diverse and made up of many different people with their own views and opinions.

This slideshow does not address every fan, but rather some groups in a general setting. 

Please leave your thoughts below! Also, who do you think would make the top 10?  

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No. 5: Jon Jones

Jon Jones was someone who many did not know about until he was in title contention. It was not until the Brandon Vera fight that people started to look at him and say, “He might actually be something.”

After fighting Vladimir Matyushenko, the MMA world now saw Jones as someone who was special. Many fans “jumped on the bandwagon,” as they say, after he fought and defeated Ryan Bader, his hardest test to that date. Now that Jones was fighting for the title, the media swarmed on Jones.

The UFC pushed a greater promotion on him than Brock Lesnar and has continued to since he won the title. Jones experienced a small turnaround due to his fiasco with former friend and training partner Rashad Evans but has still maintained his following, even if they all are relatively new.

No. 4: Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko was on top of the world for so long, and many revered him as the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Many had him at the top of the pound-for-pound best fighters list, and fans thought he was untouchable. Then his fight was announced against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu artist Fabricio Werdum.

The two met in June of 2010, and the MMA world saw this as an easy fight for “The Last Emperor.” It was already determined that Fedor would run right through Werdum with little difficulty. But the unimaginable happened: Werdum slapped on a triangle and tapped out Fedor in the first round.

In the weeks following the fight, Fedor’s beaming aura of godlike fame had become a little less bright. The words of people saying he was the best of all time started to get quieter and less frequent.

Then came along Antonia Silva.

Fedor was deemed unable to continue due to the damage he had taken from Silva during the fight, and Silva was declared the winner. After such a brutal destruction, the name of Fedor slowly slipped into the silence. No longer is there a plethora of tabloids and articles arguing for him as the best.

His turnaround was one of the most significant and shocking to the MMA world.

No. 3: Lyoto Machida

The moment Lyoto Machida knocked out the Light Heavyweight Champion at the time, Rashad Evans, Joe Rogan announced his infamous words: “Welcome to the Machida Era.” Little did we all know the Machida Era would last as long as MC Hammer’s career.

Machida was someone whose style could not be imitated and was the enigma of the LHW division. His success landed him a title shot, which he won definitively.

Then he faced Pride legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The first fight ended in controversy when Lyoto was awarded a decision win that most people disagreed with. Because of this controversy, a rematch was set up.

The two met again six months later. This time, Shogun proved he was the better fighter that night by knocking out the champion in the first round, handing “The Dragon” his first and only loss at the time.

By now, any thoughts on the Machida Era were completely gone. Then came along Rampage Jackson, who won a decision over Machida.

Once again, it seemed Machida had started to go downhill since his actions in the cage were not what fans were accustomed to. Fans now were criticizing Machida, and his rankings in the pound-for-pound lists went away.

But as soon as he was brushed off, he almost seemed to redeem himself with an impressive jumping front kick that knocked out Randy Couture. Now fans rejoiced in the Lyoto they all knew but had abandoned four months prior.

No. 2: Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva is currently MMA's greatest pound-for-pound fighter but has walked down a road of love and hate. For some reason, some fans love him one moment and then hate him the next. When you have as much fame and success in something as he does, inevitably people start to want you to fail or falter.

Fans criticize him for beating their favorite fighters, or being too successful, or perhaps just because they can’t understand his native tongue. Whatever the reason, no one can deny his track record.

In general, though, Silva was respected and did have a huge following, and he still does to this day. However, his fight with Demian Maia would bring on a wave of upset fans and critics.

During their fight he used many antics to bait and mock Maia, who would not engage the champion. He clearly showed his dominance for the first few rounds, but the last two consisted of him avoiding and running around his opponent.

Onlookers became restless and wanted to see him finish. The fight went to a decision, and the MMA world was furious. Dana White was livid, and many fans turned on “The Spider.”

What has happened with Silva after his Maia and Chael Sonnen fights is that fans do not want to be on the victim end of the beating stick, so they blindly agree with statements made by people like Chael or others who bash a fighter.

After Silva knocked out Vitor Belfort, many celebrated another impressive victory for the P4P king and seemingly almost forgot his past blunders. Silva experiences the turnaround of fans constantly, almost on a fight-by-fight basis.

No. 1: Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz is a man whose fame and name are based on the past. Not that he isn’t a great fighter, but his moments of glory were mostly during the days where he and Chuck Liddell would meet in the cage.

People have always hated “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” and have not very much wavered on that point for years. But everything changed when he fought Ryan Bader at UFC 132.

Tapping Bader out and winning his first fight since 2006 was a shocking moment that shook the MMA world. What followed was a wave of people supporting Tito Ortiz and calling for him to have a title shot. It was as if his fans were dormant, but then his win resurrected them and ordered them to spread and multiply.

This new wave of Tito fans was very surprising to many, and people are saying that Tito is making a comeback and a run for the title.

Whether this is possible or not, you cannot take away his recent success, and he has managed once again to show that some fans still have some front-running tendencies.