Conor McGregor is the greatest showman in sport – David Flatman column

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Whether or not you’re the kind of person who, with an hour or so to spare on the sofa, chooses to watch aggressive, tattooed men fight in a cage, you should know about Conor McGregor. You don’t have to like him, but you should know about him because he is the new king of sport. Well, the king of the show at least.

There are certainly athletes who draw bigger audiences than the Irish fighter, but I cannot think of one who draws so much more attention to his sport than any competitor before him. Add to the equation that mixed martial arts, though growing at speed, is still a developing sport, and his appeal is magnified further.

My wife couldn’t think of much she’d like to do less than watch cage fighting, but even she stands still in the kitchen, involuntarily ceasing her task of the moment, and fixes her eyes and ears on the television screen when McGregor talks. “He’s quite grim,” she said. “But he actually seems very bright, too.”

Bright is right. He is verbose and inappropriate, he is to cockiness what the Gherkin is to a bungalow, and he is as rough as a slate layer’s undercarriage. But his wit is shank-sharp, and his vision is absolutely clear: the more people tune in or pay to watch him, the more money he will make.

We’ve seen plenty of transparent - sometimes even entertaining - bravado before in plenty of sports, but rarely have we seen such an orator, such a sophisticated mouth tearing into his opponents. In fact - and I know this will land me in trouble with the vicariously offended of Twitter - we have not seen a top-class athlete so adept behind the microphone since Muhammad Ali.

One difference between McGregor and the myriad other rent-a-gobs in combat sports is his wit, and the spontaneity of his bragging and high-octane slights. He should be deeply unappealing, but he is precisely the opposite. Another key difference when compared to, say, Floyd Mayweather, is that he manages to remain likeable. Mayweather could fight a local shopkeeper and his viewing figures would be colossal. But boxing is generations further along in terms of development and is vastly more established as a form of entertainment.

McGregor is growing his sport at a rate nobody else has managed. Ronda Rousey, the dethroned female champion, did a huge amount for the sport - and will doubtless go on to do more - but McGregor has taken mixed martial arts to new levels. And all in a couple of years.

Sport, for me, is only partly to do with the match itself. It’s about the show, the nerves, the build-up. And if you want a show, nobody is currently doing it better.

Usain Bolt remains emperor of all, but his running days are coming to an end. McGregor, one feels, has a way to go yet, and he’s dragging his sport with him. What a showman. Oh, and what a left hand.