For me it's not all about what you do the cage, but how you carry yourself out of it
I often think the contrary, i.e. what happens in the cage should nearly always be the sole criterion when it comes to matchmaking, fighter rating/ranking, opportunities, etc...
However I realized that, more often than I'd like to admit, facts totally unrelated to MMA (as a combat sport) make me sway towards opinions I wouldn't have had otherwise.
I think that I mostly fear and dislike the idea that celebrity and spectacle could be bigger factors than fighting skills in your chances at succeeding as a high level fighter. Probably, I may have had a knee-jerk reaction to recent tendencies and events, not to mention the WWE/UFC merger, and the overall importance of social media which I often find annoying.
But yeah, in the end, all things equal, it's true that I'll often favor a fighter I can also respect and relate to, as a man.
On topic : I'm a bit surprised that BSD isn't mentionned in that thread, maybe I'm not understanding what a breakthrough is supposed to be ? Absolutely no bias from me here <Lmaoo>
Anyway, I'll go with Tom.