What's up with Aljos lack of popularity?

[Portland8242]

It’s just not a good theory. Does he say cringey things? Does he put on exciting fights? That will lead you to whether a fighter is popular or not 90% of the time. You can go past those questions to come up with other theories if you want to……but you’re doing it because you want to, not because it’s necessary.

And as if a person "similar" to Aljo has never become a big star.

It's just people like that poster who have a crazy victim complex.

 

[Portland8242]

We can pretend like that pattern doesn't exist in MMA fandom in you want. When the last time you heard a white champ being bood, in his own city. Coby covington says cringy things and is arguable a more boring fighter. Its alright though he keeps winning people will have to come around. They hated DC at one point as well

Yeah they really did hate DC! Like when they cheered for Jones over him!


wait what...

 

[The_Renaissance]

I just cannot accept him as champion . I can recognise he's elite but I just can't accept him as champion

 

[Stagliano]

I don't think it's that, Rampage and Jones are two of the bigger draws in UFC history.

Jones was really hated in his early years lol.

Peoples were even rooting against him in his own country when he was fighting Machida and Vitor lol.

Rampage is a caricature.

 

[arcadeperfect]

He's forgettable. Not every champion is going to leave an impression on everyone.

 

[MrCoffee]

I don't think it's that, Rampage and Jones are two of the bigger draws in UFC history.

Media makes every falling short on absolute success about something something. Floyd Mayweather is financially well off beyond just about everyone in combat sports history.

In the Western system, ANYONE can become #1. ANYONE.

Victim mentality is a sure way to never accept self responsibility or become great.

 

[teamfox223]

I think Aljo should at least earned some respect after beating Henry, that was not a easy task even after 3 year lay off.

 

[welcometohavoc]

Ok so he felt he had to ham it up after being hit by a legit illegal knee against Yan, but:

He grew from that and properly defeated Yan in the rematch.

He has comfortably beat the title challengers the UFC has put in front of him since. Not his fault if they're putting in hurt or over the hill guys.

On his way up, he knocked the heads off the unranked and top 15 guys as needed. He ran through Sandhagan who is a beast.

He's got a persona and image I'd have thought most UFC fans would go for. Outside of the cage he seems more plausible than the Suga Show but OMalley is wildly more popular.

Fighting style isn't as attractive as, again, say OMalley, but gets the job done pretty ruthlessly. has all those BW records that have been quoted elsewhere (so I won't repeat).

So what it is? Why so hated by both casuals and hard core that a reigning champ gets booed in his own back yard? Was he alot more popular before the Yan acting and his match ups have just not given him the chance to let him erase the past? Or something about him has always rubbed people up the wrong way?

I think you underestimate how much that knee situation fucked his reputation

 

[TheViking]

It is pretty crazy that Aljo was getting booed so hard in New Jersey when he is a Long Island guy.

You would think the East Coasters would cheer for one of their own

Instead the arena was chanting "Hen-ry Hen-ry"

Newark had more love for the Mexican-American Arizona guy than the Long Island guy?

Yeah i felt for him. You could just see the disappointment on his face when he realized.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

He’s missing that JBG element we all have gotten use to being around.

Same with Belal I think is the problem.

Those two aren’t Just Bleed warriors and the fans see it every fight.

This is not to be confused with elite skill, which they both have plenty of. They dont get hit much if at all sometimes.

 

[Grill master]

I didn't realise how much the popularity rankings matter to Aljo until watching the post fight conference. When talking about Sugar Sean he said something like "well I smoke weed too.." followed by a very awkward silence. As in to say, why don't you like me as much as Sean?

 

[Jeo]

I think you underestimate how much that knee situation fucked his reputation

Yeah I suppose so.

From my perspective it's fine that the yan fight was stopped, where Aljo lost it was feeling he had to ham it up for the next 20 minutes to make it seem legit. Anyone who's ever got their bell rung knows you recover after a while and that's fine. The bad acting compounded the issue and made the DQ seem illegitimate whereas it probably wasn't.

But for me, and you can argue this, but he got that win back fair and square so it's clean slate from there.

Too bad UFC haven't given him opponents that he can put away without an * and so build an unquestionable body of work as the champ. Maybe if/ when he sends Suga to sleep.

 

[WolverReem]

People don't like split decisions title defenses. Benson was hated on for this too

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I hated him at first for that but it's a thing of the past. He ran it back with Yan and got the W.

He had a real opportunity to win some fans with the Dillashaw fight but he just couldn't break through.

I do kinda feel bad for him on that one. Nobody likes TJ and watching him get owned and pouting would have been great. Unfortunately he showed up damaged goods.

At the end of the day, Aljo just isn’t associated with satisfying fights right now. A lot of it is not his fault. Yan I was a fun fight that was ruined by Yan. The TJ matchup was fun on paper but was ruined by TJ. Yan II and Cejudo were tough matchups and he did what he had to do to win at the expense of being exciting.

It’s just one of those things right now. If he has a fun buildup with O’Malley and then strangled him in thirty seconds we’re all gonna love him again.

 

[mister piscadinha]

aljo won the title by acting
he cemented it by winning a boring, controversial split decision
then he fought one-armed, oldman dillashaw
and now a splid-dec over slow, oldman cejudo
he lacks charisma and has a boring fighting style

anyone crying "racism" should be banned on the grounds of race-baiting and being a leftist wacko
TBH, this is the ufc's fault as much as it's his, getting a title in a dq is bizarre, fighting oldmen is also the ufc's doing.
aljo should lean into the "heel" persona

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

He was pretty well like by the fans until the DQ title win. His reaction and then him partying with the belt turned a lot of people off. You’d think only hardcores would know about that stuff but everyone does these days.

His personality also isn’t exactly something to cheer for either. He’s about as cheesy as Cejudo.

As a fighter, he’s exceeded my expectations but he’s missing the “It” factor which makes him a star.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

aljo won the title by acting
he cemented it by winning a boring, controversial split decision
then he fought one-armed, oldman dillashaw
and now a splid-dec over slow, oldman cejudo
he lacks charisma and has a boring fighting style

anyone crying "racism" should be banned on the grounds of race-baiting and being a leftist wacko
TBH, this is the ufc's fault as much as it's his, getting a title in a dq is bizarre, fighting oldmen is also the ufc's doing.
aljo should lean into the "heel" persona

He already did after the Yan fight. And you have morons asking why the guy who wants people to dislike him is disliked.

 

[mister piscadinha]

He already did after the Yan fight. And you have morons asking why the guy who wants people to dislike him is disliked.

he severely lacks charisma, even when he leans into the heel persona, it seems fake.
o'malley has that too, really, the only difference betwen those two is that pink hair fights are fun

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Aljo lacks the “It” factor that makes fans truly care about fighters.

We pay attention to him and respect him because of his accomplishments. But what makes people care about fighters (what gives them the “It”) is the following:

-Spectacular Fight Style (Incredibly dominant/violent with bonus points for finishes)
-Compelling Personality (shit talker, baby face, heel, weirdo)

You can have one of the two and be alright but you probably won’t be a star. If you have both the fight game is yours for the taking.

With Aljo it’s neither - his style is not incredibly dominant or violent at the highest level (sans the Sandhagen finish, that’s his career high point) and he rarely gets finishes. His personality is just not compelling - he alternates between “chip on his shoulder” attitude and terrible trash talker, which doesn’t endure you to anyone.

If he stopped caring so much he’d be fine (not a star but probably not hated so much), but trying to win over fans booing you by telling them you aren’t Mike Tyson is a step in the wrong direction.

 

[cmw43]

Yup. Francis, Anderson, Jones, DC, Adesanya, Aldo, Hill, Pereira, Moreno, Figueiredo, Werdum, Rampage, Edwards, Nunes, Weili, Grasso, etc all got the same type of hate, for some reason. Meanwhile, everybody seems to want Colby for champ.

Colby's probably got one of the largest groups of haters....