The first time Dana White met Conor McGregor he knew that if the kid could fight he was going to be a huge superstar for the UFC, and guess what, he was right. White has seen them all come and go, the Tito Ortizes, the Chuck Liddells, the Georges St-Pierres, the Anderson Silvas, Chael Sonnens, Brock Lesnars and all the rest.
If anyone knows what it takes for a fighter to be a star it’s the the P.T. Barnum of MMA himself. A guest on The Herd this week, White broke it down:
“Some guys just have that thing. I call it ‘the it factor’. Some guys have it. Some of the girls have it. Guys and girls have it. We have some fighters that are unbelievable really talented people but just couldn’t get noticed if their life depended on it. They just don’t have that flair, that personality, that thing that attracts other human beings to them. Some people have it in droves and others don’t.”
Who’s bigger than Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor right now? Both of them have big personalities to go with their skills and they aren’t afraid to speak their minds. They also know what it takes to sell a fight and aren’t afraid to let the trash talk fly when the occasion calls for it.
We’ve all seen contrived trash talk and some bad acting from fighters trying to hype up a fight. That never works either. They still lack that charisma White is talking about. That doesn’t mean it can’t be acquired, but that’s another discussion for another day.
Watch the video below of Dana White discussing why some fighters just don’t have that “it factor”.
Translation: “I suck at selling my own product.”