lol Alex isn’t popular because of whatever the fuck reasons you said, he is stoic dangerous and intimidating with a lot of charisma for someone who doesn’t talk a lot. You just don’t know how to read a room, that’s why you’re so confused about everyone thinking that hill is a douchebag and he totally is a douchebag, he can’t even take a compliment from Ariel, he’s soft, sensitive and comes across as a dweeb.
No one cares if you can’t see it. Also no one cares about his stupid podcast and yes he should just shut up and fight for the peanuts because the pod cast that he apparently must do or else he’d be living in a box, is a lot of the reason why people don’t like him.
Bruh, I never said I don't understand why people are bitching about this. I fully understand why people are bitching about this. And because I understand it, I understand that people are making a mountain out of a mole's hill. I can read the room just fine, that doesn't mean I have to agree with the room..
Yes, people like his stoic demeanor and all that you named, but that on it's own doesn't draw the attention of people. Being silent just doesn't advertise the same way as making noise of any kind. And on his own Alex is pretty fucking silent.
But against a guy like Izzy who was very famous (in MMA terms) and also very hated, Alex got to fullfil the role of the guy to take on the hated champ who just kept on winning. He fitted that role perfectly
because he is
so different from Izzy. But Izzy was making noise enough for the two of them, and the noise he had made for previous fights also benefits that situation. Because it all has contributed to the overall fame and name recognition Izzy brings to any fight, inc. with Pereira.
It's just like Poirier's fame sky rocketed after beating Conor. It's the reward of beating the loud and hated guy, you get to benefit of all the talking they have done. It wins you over the fans. And the fans bring the money. But he could not have gotten a lot of those fans if he had not beaten the guy they hated. Because lots of those fans are casuals who don't watch a lot of MMA and don't follow a lot of fighters. But they know the loud and obnoxious guy. Because every MMA fan knows the loud and obnoxious guy. It's the same for Anderson Silva. He was not a great draw before the Chael fight, but beating him and doing it in the dramatic way he did, he also got to reap the rewards of Chael's trash talk.
But if Hill is silent for this fight and Alex is also silent for this fight. Why will the casuals tune in? They won't even know that the fight is taking place, because they don't keep track of all the million cards like we do. Their lives don't revolve around MMA. Their attention needs to be grabbed. They need a reason to invest their time and money into something they are only moderately interested in at best. Noise, and especially some form of drama, will grab their attention and make them invested in either rooting for the loud mouth or rooting for the guy trying to shut that loud mouth up.
And Hill is nowhere near Conor or to a lesser extent Izzy, in terms of trash talk, IMO. So getting riled up about this which isn't a personal attack, but just purely sports competition related, is very silly to me. And I don't agree with Hill's statements at all. But I understand what he is doing. Poatan's performance's against Bruno was a bit underwhelming. Because people expected Poatan to make easy work out of him, which he didn't. So Hill attacks that point to troll his fans and create drama. It's just to sell the fight. It helps Alex just as much as it helps Hill. No actually it helps Alex more, because Alex gets PPV points. Everybody wins, except the marks who fall for his trolling and have taken his bait. Well they kinda win if Alex beats him. But I don't think the negative emotions you have towards a fighter actually benefits you in anyway, at the end of the day. Because you can enjoy the fight even more if you are happy no matter who wins, IMO, as long as the fight is good.
And then there is also the whole mental warfare part of it, and that's just part of fighting's very nature. But I think the wall of text is long enough already.
