Explain to me "charisma" or "aura"

Obviously Conor had the "IT" factor.

I cant think of anyone in MMA who would have the balls to go to a boxing card and yell "I AM boxing!!!!!' as confidently as he did it. You have to have a bit of madness to do something like that, and charisma to pull it off.

Love him or hate him, he's got charisma. Dont fool yourself, not everything he did was loud yelling.

Today though, thats mostly what's left.
2015 Conor would look at this current trainwreck and Imanari roll in his grave
 
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To put it simply I'd say it's guys who are draws. Conor isn't the best fighter we've had in the UFC but the biggest draw, Lesnar is similar and Ronda Rousey. So for a fighter to be a draw like that they are probably considered to be charismatic or to have an aura.

Conversely guys like Belal and Kamaru Usman probably don't have this.

I have love for Belal but my kids would say he has negative rizz.
 
Charisma is a form of attractiveness, so it differs depending on your preference.

Charisma is essentially something you find interesting about a person's personality.

There are actors that do not have a lot of range, but people like them for several reasons not related to their ability (we can use action stars like Vin Diesel, Arnold etc as easy examples, but all genres have charismatic types). Conversely, there are incredible actors who are really boring in real life, or at least you wouldn't think they were anything interesting based on initial impressions.
 
First things first: for me, a fighter is exciting or not depending on what he does inside the cage.

That said, after following the sport for many years, I've watched many "face-offs" in press conferences and YT throws at me tons of reels and whatnot of fighters not fighting.
Plus the post-fight interviews, obviously.

Maybe it's something cultural, I'm Spaniard, or I'm missing nuances because English is not even my second language.
I'm approaching 40, so I was young enough at some of the times I'm referring to.

Conor (prime Conor, not... the current junkie one) never struck me as charismatic. Pre-Aldo fight he was overly loud, histrionic, annoying and disrespectful to a true legend.
Pre-Khabib, I think Khabib was the charismatic one, not even a contest.

I like some flex when you are smart, witty and can deliver a joke: DDP.
Chael Sonnen (back then), obviously. Fedor.
JG is lots of fun.
Khabib and now Islam are comedy gold and have charisma over 9000. I'm not a muslim and couldn't care less about religion.

Leon is boring as a fighter, but calling his mom in tears after KOing Usman and right next being cold enough for the "headshot, dead" punchline was pure magic.

For context, IMO Jokic is the most charismatic NBA player right now by a mile.

Think of it like this: charisma is like personality magnetism. Some people have lots of it. They speak, people listen. They act, people watch. Charisma is something you can more or less gauge by people’s reactions. It’s not so much about your subjective assessment of whether someone is likable.

You never found Conor charismatic? You’re simply incorrect. He’s hands down the most charismatic person ever to fight in MMA. By contrast, Leon is one of the least Charismatic fighters (even less than Belal).
 
Like it or not, understand it or not, Conor's still existent social media following prove he at least had charisma. You don't get that many followers without it, kinda by definition.

As for aura, Fedor and Anderson were the last two I recall that really had that going for them.
 
Think of it like this: charisma is like personality magnetism. Some people have lots of it. They speak, people listen. They act, people watch. Charisma is something you can more or less gauge by people’s reactions. It’s not so much about your subjective assessment of whether someone is likable.

You never found Conor charismatic? You’re simply incorrect. He’s hands down the most charismatic person ever to fight in MMA. By contrast, Leon is one of the least Charismatic fighters (even less than Belal).
He doesn't like Conor. Therefore he isn't charismatic.

Which is unfortunately a common theme on these boards, most opinions are dominated by a dislike towards a fighter, so what is glaringly obvious gets woefully ignored.
 
I'm the OP.
You missed my point, or I worded it poorly (excuse my English btw).

I do understand what "charisma" and "aura" mean. Well, "aura" is just a Gen Z "let's rename stuff" thing.

I just find myself (and the ones around me since we started following MMA) having very different opinions on which fighters are actually charismatic.

TL;DR Islam is, Khabib was/is, Fedor (but that's pretty much a consensus). Conor wasn't and obviously isn't. At all, IMO.
Leon is boring but the aftermath of the Usman's KO was emotive, first, and stone cold (headshot, dead) just right after.

For some flex you need to be smart, witty, quick and good enough with words i.e. Sonnen back then and now DDP-
 
I'm the OP.
You missed my point, or I worded it poorly (excuse my English btw).

I do understand what "charisma" and "aura" mean. Well, "aura" is just a Gen Z "let's rename stuff" thing.

I just find myself (and the ones around me since we started following MMA) having very different opinions on which fighters are actually charismatic.

TL;DR Islam is, Khabib was/is, Fedor (but that's pretty much a consensus). Conor wasn't and obviously isn't. At all, IMO.
Leon is boring but the aftermath of the Usman's KO was emotive, first, and stone cold (headshot, dead) just right after.

For some flex you need to be smart, witty, quick and good enough with words i.e. Sonnen back then and now DDP-
I dont really get your point. Connor McGregor is a good talker, and is famous in part for his wit, phrases, and big personality. His interactions on TUF with Faber or his press conferences 10 years ago alredy emit alot of that. Whether you like him now, or in the past, or never did, isn't really relevant to that.

Leon was never a big talker or interesting personality. Just because he did something funny one time doesnt mean that he is charismatic.
 
Fedor (but that's pretty much a consensus).

Fedor is probably one of the least charismatic fighters out there. You could say that his lack of charisma made him charismatic, but that was only so cuz he was probably, in his prime, the most feared MMA fighter out there, ever. So his "charisma" was based on him destroying his opponents. Certainly not on him being charismatic as a person. He was the opposite.
 
U lost me at habib having charisma

"Send location".
"Hey, sunglasses".
"You have to buy dog".
"If King Kong can make 155 I'll fight him".

And of course "tomorrow night I'm gonna smesh your boy".
And the whole "let's talk now", him jumping the cage...

C'mon.
 
Conor was embarassing playing a character since day 1 and for me he made a fool of himself in the build up of the Aldo fight: in some moment he looked like a teenager, and a dumb one.
By the Mayweather fight he was just a guy spewing nonsense, but a lot of people (i pity them) liked it.

I cannot see a 25+ person considering him charismatic and tbh even a mildly intelligent teenager... it's the state of the decadent western society.
 
Young Nick Diaz had charisma. His combos flowed and he had those pitter patter punches followed by hooks to the body. He was essentially achieving flow state in some of those early fights and it was magnetic. Too bad his internal struggles always seemed to move him off track. In cage charisma, IMO, is all about achieving flow state. In no particular order, Nick, Anderson, Fedor, early Jones, DC in a few fights, early Aldo, Cruz for a few fights, Jean Silva seems to have it, early Conor.

Contrast the guys above with someone like GSP. All technique and skill, but not much in the way of flow, so while I liked him, he would never be classified as charismatic in the cage.
 
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I'm the OP.
You missed my point, or I worded it poorly (excuse my English btw).

I do understand what "charisma" and "aura" mean. Well, "aura" is just a Gen Z "let's rename stuff" thing.

I just find myself (and the ones around me since we started following MMA) having very different opinions on which fighters are actually charismatic.

TL;DR Islam is, Khabib was/is, Fedor (but that's pretty much a consensus). Conor wasn't and obviously isn't. At all, IMO.
Leon is boring but the aftermath of the Usman's KO was emotive, first, and stone cold (headshot, dead) just right after.

For some flex you need to be smart, witty, quick and good enough with words i.e. Sonnen back then and now DDP-
Your OP says Conor doesn't have charisma but you think Khabib does..... lol I don't think we have the same definition of charisma if you think that guy is charismatic. He's not even the most charismatic guy on his team.
 
The aura of a guy like Anderson Silva defeated people before they stepped in the ring. When your aura is big enough you can have a mental impact.
 
They are 2 different things that don't necessarily go hand in hand

Poatan definitely had an aura when he was banging guys out

Khabib too

Prime Jones had an aura.

They didn't all necessarily have charisma, maybe some would argue none of them do
 
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