When it comes to Gordon Ryan, the people in the BJJ community tend to either like him… Or hate him. But whichever of the two sides you’re on, you’ll probably agree that Gordon is difficult to ignore.
And the reason for that? John Danaher believes that it’s because of Gordon’s supreme confidence.

Professor Danaher spoke about it in an interview for FloGrappling:

I think that what it [why people like or hate Gordon] is… Related to most people’s confidence levels. Most people go through their lives with something very similar to an inferiority complex.
They struggle, in their daily life, with their self-image and confidence. And they would never say something openly boastful about their achievements. They would be shy.

And then they see someone like Gordon, who speaks with supreme confidence and acts with supreme confidence.

He explains that, when people are confronted with someone who has that sort of a supreme confidence, they either like the person because of that – or outright dislike them:

There’s something about that that’s either extremely attractive to someone – or something they find utterly repulsive. But very few people ignore it.
Because all of us, I believe, go through our lives with a real struggle with our self-image and our confidence.

And when you’re confronted with someone who is extraordinarily confident with themselves, you either get an extremely negative reaction – because you feel threatened by it… Or a positive reaction, because you get inspired by it.
But, either way, you’re going to get a strong reaction.

Do you agree with Professor John Danaher on this one?

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