Conor McGregor has something special, even if we still don't know what that something is

I’m not sure I’d call it charisma, exactly, but Conor McGregor has something.

Magnetism, maybe? The glow of a special brand of fame? You look at him and you can’t help but see that certain electric current that seems to buzz behind the eyes of the uncommonly charming and the possibly insane. It makes me think of Bas Rutten, who, when criss-crossing the country with the IFL, could burst into a hotel lobby with an aura and an energy that made 60-year-old tourists gawk with that “I don’t know who you are, but I know you’re somebody” look on their faces.

Whatever that is, McGregor has it. What we’re still waiting to find out is, just how far can “it” take him?

On Saturday it took him all the way to the main event in just his third UFC fight, which took place at UFC Fight Night 46 at The O2 in Dublin. That’s a fine start. Most 26-year-old fighters with so little time in would be glad to get off the prelims. McGregor got to walk out in a room full of screaming countrymen just before beating up an opponent who was kind enough to play directly into his hands.

You can’t say McGregor doesn’t have skill, but you also can’t say it’s skill alone that explains how he’s rocketed into the limelight.

Some of that is just good timing. The UFC’s global ambitions have put it in a little bit of a bind with events like these. It needs regional draws who are also Internet draws. It doesn’t want to waste what few pay-per-view stars it has on a small-ish arena in Dublin town, but it still needs someone who can satisfy the locals while also convincing fans with no nationalistic fellow feeling to flip open the laptop on the other side of the Atlantic.

McGregor couldn’t be any better suited for the job. And, thanks to an injury to his original opponent, Cole Miller, he got a willing foe who couldn’t have been any better suited to make him look good in front of his fellow Irishmen.

That’s not a knock on Diego Brandao. Not really. It’s just that, you know what he’s going to do in a fight like this. For the first couple minutes of any fight, Brandao’s a bull. Wave the red cape and you can count on him to charge. And once he’s charged a few times and hit nothing but air, you can count on him to stop.

This fight was not without risk for McGregor (15-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC), but those risks were manageable. They were of the anything-can-happen variety. The best reason to think Brandao (18-10 MMA, 4-3 UFC) might win was the sheer comeuppance value of it. When you brand a largely untested fighter as your newest star, you can’t expect the MMA gods not to rub their chins as they ponder whether the time is right for a good old-fashioned smiting.

But McGregor held up his end of the bargain. He shut down Brandao early, and then waited for him to sag with the realization of inevitable defeat. As Brandao drooped into the fence, McGregor pounced. When Brandao fell to the floor and assumed the posture of a man waiting out a tornado, McGregor followed him down and walloped out a Morse code message on his skull. By that point, the message was intended mostly for referee Leon Roberts. “Send help,” it thumped, “because I could do this all night.”

When it was over, McGregor returned his attentions to his people. He promised them more. He promised them soccer stadiums. They ate it up. It was a tidy little story, wrapped up neatly – for now.

I don’t know if McGregor is the star we need, but he is the star we deserve. He told us he was famous before we had any idea who he was, and then he kept repeating it until it became true. His popularity is popular. The fighting is just something he does between interviews. It seems almost ceremonial, less like a test than a coronation.

The thing is, though, this brand of stardom makes you a target. People know McGregor’s name, but they still don’t know whether he can do this against someone who matters. Eventually we’re going to find out, which is the great thing about this sport. For all the time and energy spent evading and twisting and shaping the truth – also known as “promoting” – the truth will find you inside that cage.

It always does, even if it sometimes takes a while. Maybe, in this case, it’ll even take a soccer stadium.

For more on UFC Fight Night 46, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.