He is very shrewd indeed. Did you hear his last interview on MMA hour where he said he kept his Under Armor sponsorship and worked out a special deal where he can still promote/wear Under Armor outside of UFC events. This guy must be a killer on the stock market.
Its him being a business man for sure, he's already had his loss early on after winning the belt- via Serra, same as Conor losing to Diaz and they both redeemed themselves through a exciting storyline.
I feel Americans view him differently for two reasons, first is he is not Alpa- he was bullied, truamatized as a kid, rose above it and excelled.. secondly, he is Quebec Canadian, a frenchie, something americans hate for some reason ( I forget which war or whatever) so they hate on his MMA Wrestling while lauding American Wrestling... lol