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Derek Jenkins, of Yahoo MMA, recently put together an article compiling the 10 biggest draws in the UFC. While I agree with his 1st and 2nd choice, the order of the rest of the list is what I find fault with. His top ten in order is:

1. Brock Lesnar
2. Georges St. Pierre
3. Chuck Liddell
4. Rashad Evans
5. Rampage Jackson
6. Forrest Griffen
7. Lyoto Machida
8. BJ Penn
9. Anderson Silva
10. Randy Couture

As I stated earlier, Brock Lesnar and St. Pierre as the one and two biggest UFC draws are obvious. Lesnar averages over 1 million buys per PPV and as a main eventer averages 1.25 million PPV buys. That dwarfs the next highest main event average (GSP) by over 35%. Lesnar draws from two emotional fanbases; those that were either fans of his as a pro wrestler or fans of wrestling in general who want him to succeed or emotional "hardcores" who hate him because of his pro wrestling past and his rapid ascension to pinnacle of the sport coupled with his cocky attitude. His drawing power was recently shown when placed on a, for all intents and purposes, one match card against human cardboard cutout Shane Carwin. With a lack of an advertising push from the UFC (no Primetime, no TUF series), the PPV is projected to be the 2nd highest in the companies history.

GSP has traveled the opposite path to achieve his drawing power. He's not a brash man and it is his hard work and dedication to the sport as well as his in-cage prowess that has attracted fans. GSP was a part of UFC 100 (headlined by Lesnar) that drew 1.65 million fans as well as UFC 94 months earlier versus BJ Penn that drew close to a million. As long as GSP continues to be the hardworking fighter he is, he will continue to be a draw as evidenced in drawing 850,000 buys against a lackluster (though charismatic) opponent in Dan Hardy. He also has a match with one of the biggest "heels" in the company in Josh Koscheck after the upcoming TUF as well as a potential match with Jake Shields and, of course, a dream match with Anderson Silva.

It is at this point that our lists diverge. He believes Chuck is the number 3 draw in the UFC, I disagree. The gap between the number 2 and 3 draws is a decent-sized gap. I believe the number 3 draw is Forrest Griffin. Forrest was the inaugural winner of TUF 1 and has been a draw ever since. He helped pull in one million buys at UFC 92 and contributed to the UFC 101 buyrate of 850,000. Regardless of wins and losses, Forrest's "exciting" fight style and endearing personality will keep the fans coming for a long time. On that same UFC 101 card is the 4th biggest draw on my list BJ Penn. BJ Penn was just as big a part of the UFC 94 number as GSP was and was a big part in the UFC 101 number as well. BJ is hurt by a lack of "name" fighters and draws to go against as was seen at UFC 107 against Diego Sanchez where he still drew 650,000 buys.

I have Rashad Evans at 5 and Quinton Rampage Jackson at 6. Their fight at UFC 114 propelled both men into the air of superstar. The build up of their fight started a year before with the "Black on Black crime" faceoff at UFC 96 continued through the record-watched season of TUF 10(with Kimbo Slice) and festered and grew when the fight was delayed until late May. By the time the fight came to fruition, the anticipation was thick. While some fans felt the fight didn't live up to expectations, both men are still big names in the sport. Rampage did have a summer movie in the A-team that did garner him some press, but the movie ended up as a dud. I also have hiim listed below Rashad because he is declining as a fighter and Rashad is also a "love-to-be-hated" polarizing figure. Both men were also a part of the million plus drawing UFC 92.

Anderson Silva is an asterisked number 7. His drawing power might have been severely hurt by his "So you think you can dance?" audition against Demian Maia. That said, he has drawn numbers in the past but he too has been hampered by weak non-draw opponents. We shall see the true test of his draw at UFC 117 versus Chael Sonnen. Number eight on the list is Randy Couture. The Natural is on the decline as a fighter, but when he fights, people want to watch (his match versus Coleman the rare exception). And watch they shall as he takes on boxing loudmouth James "Lights Out" Toney at UFC 118.

It is at this point that I have two names not listed on Jenkins' article. I removed Chuck Liddell as he is no longer fighting and removed Machida as his limited draw was that he was a) going against Rashad Evans and b) was involved in a controversional "win" over Shogun Rua. And after Shogun KO'd him, in the eyes of many fans, he had lost twice. His "mystique", like Fedor's, has now dissipated. At nine and ten, I have Shane Carwin and Frank Mir.  The reason they are listed are for opposite reasons yet somewhat similar reasons.

For Mir, he is a brash cocky-trash talker than draws people into watching him get beat up. He also has fans that enjoy the fact that he holds the only win over hated champion Brock Lesnar. Mir has a sub-mainstream name as the guy who "Brock Lesnar beat" when Lesnar spazzed out at UFC 100 in front of 1.6 million people. Mir's trash talking abilities were an underrated factor in drawing that huge number. He also helped draw against Nogueira at UFC 92 with that same brash attitude. The fact that he beat Lesnar and they are 1-1 almost guarantees that we will see a rubber match that will draw big numbers.

For Carwin, he's the man who beat Brock Lesnar's ass for 3 minutes of the first round before gassing body seizure hyperventilating bronchitis lactic acidosis punching himself out because he heard the ref say he would "stop the fight". He bloodied up the champion, the most hated fighter in MMA. That is a red badge of courage for him. The Carwin Army started out with mostly anti-Lesnar fans and his performance pre-P.H.O.B.H.H.T.R.S.H.W.S.T.F. has gained him a lot of pro-Carwin fans who would and will pay BIG money to see him beat Lesnar and whoever he has to in the future to get back that shot. If Carwin is able to tap into some charisma, he could be a top 5 draw. His young Mike Tysonesque fighting style is one that will draw in a lot of casual fans. His only drawback (besides the non-charisma) is that he's 35 and while Randy Couture is 47, he is clearly the exception that proves the rule.

Honorable Mentions: Rich Frankin

Future draws: Josh Koscheck, Jon "Bones" Jones, Nick Diaz (he's coming), Cain Velasquez