Ok, let's look at these examples....
- The too small argument has less to do with actual size and more to do with knockout power. Jose Aldo was the only champ in the division all- time and has only had 2 knockouts in the UFC. He also had no personality. Then Conor had in full of charisma with 6 KOs, including Jose.
- GSP: the massive reason behind his popularity is Canada. He is not a big star in the US, at least not as much as you think. His latest PPV did 250k in Canada and 625k in US. His overall post-Serra II records are between 700-800k. The only outlier is Diaz selling wolf tickets and almost making it 1M. Jon Jones latest PPVs with Cormier have both done 800k+. His fight against Rampage did 700k. So any time there was a glimpse of personality and hype, a black man generated huge PPV numbers.
- Rousey: seriously? Are we now saying MMA fans are more racist than they are sexist? Why was Rousey popular? Maybe because like Conor, all her fights were finishes. Maybe like GSP, she had a huge following (there are more women than there are Canadians), and the media picked up her as the one and only and made her a star.
- DJ: his PPV against Cariaso did 205k. His other ones did 100-125k. Last one did 200k. Let's take a look at a division one class up that results in more KOs: Dillishaw did 215k against Barao and 125k against Soto. Faber did 235k against Barao twice. And had a "big" one against Cruz at 350k. Why? Because drama.
Like I said ... finishes + drama = PPVs. DJ is non-confrontational with no KO power. Woodley is sometimes exciting with a personality of a potato. Cormier is a dorky dad with no KO power. **** even Jon Jones has no KO power (outside of the last fight) but still sold 800k because of personality.
This will by my last comment on this topic. I actually put thought and research into my posts so they take an unfortunate amount of time trying to prove something that is obvious to most. While it's a very interesting subject matter, there's just not enough data coming from the other side outside of personal opinions to continue it.