Terra Magazine broke word: “Anderson Silva is among the 50 most marketable athletes of 2011,” on highly regarded list “SportsPro”.
The ranking is based on the marketability of sports stars according to criteria such as media exposure, image, performance in and out of the arena, and other attributes.
From the world of fighting, only Manny Pacquiao and Anderson made the list. From Brazil, only goal-scoring soccer star Neymar is there with “The Spider”.
The ranking suggests that Anderson’s last two performances (a submission win over Sonnen and knockout over Belfort) have silenced the chorus of boos over his performance against Demian Maia once and for all. It looks like Anderson may even move up in the ranking in 2012.
“It’s great news, made my day,” said Anderson.
Check out the ranking:
| 1. Usain Bolt | 26. Ryo Ishikawa |
| 2. LeBron James | 27. Sidney Crosby |
| 3. Cristiano Ronaldo | 28. Wayne Rooney |
| 4. Lionel Messi | 29. Tyson Gay |
| 5. Lewis Hamilton | 30. Kevin Durant |
| 6. Carmelo Anthony | 31. Joe Mauer |
| 7. Sebastian Vettel | 32. Andy Murray |
| 8. Michael Phelps | 33. Lin Dan |
| 9. Caroline Wozniacki | 34. Brian Wilson |
| 10. Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 35. Mark Cavendish |
| 11. Yao Ming | 36. Travis Pastrana |
| 12. Jessica Ennis | 37. Mark Sanchez |
| 13. Kobe Bryant | 38. Danica Patrick |
| 14. Shaun White | 39. Valentino Rossi |
| 15. Dwyane Wade | 40. Anderson Silva |
| 16. Raphael Nadal | 41. Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 17. Neymar | 42. Lindsey Vonn |
| 18. Tom Brady | 43. Dan Carter |
| 19. Liu Xiang | 44.Tim Tebow |
| 20. Manny Paquiao | 45. Sam Bradford |
| 21. Rory McIlroy | 46. Yu Darvish |
| 22. Maria Sharapova | 47. Mesut Ozil |
| 23. Alex Ovechkin | 48. Deron Williams |
| 24. Fernando Alonso | 49. Yuvraj Singh |
| 25. Albert Pujols | 50. Samuel Eto’o |
