Conor McGregor has been included in Forbes’ World’s Highest Paid Athletes list for 2016. The list was published in Forbes Magazine on June 8th, 2016 and ranks the UFC featherweight champion as the sole MMA fighter on the board positioned at #85 with a reported earnings of $18 million directly from his mixed martial arts contests and $4 million in endorsements.
Eden Hazard (football) and David Ortiz (baseball) joined McGregor in 85th position, resulting in a three-way tie.
The list was topped by football superstar Christiano Ronaldo, taking the mantle from boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. who came in at #16. Mayweather reigned supreme in both 2015 and 2014; however, considering he announced his retirement from boxing last year, a #14 spot on the list is impressive.
Despite his loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 198, McGregor’s big paydays will continue when he rematches Diaz at UFC 202 on August 20th.
The two rivals were originally slated to rematch at the upcoming mega-event UFC 200 in July, however, that all changed when the UFC and McGregor clashed in a public disagreement over media obligations leading into much-anticipated the pay-per-view.
This dispute led to the removal of McGregor from the main event of UFC 200. Shortly after, Diaz all but excluded himself from the event too when he stated that it was McGregor or nobody.
What followed was a circus of rumours, various threats by both sides, and, quite frankly, hyperbole.
However, it all worked itself out in the end. McGregor will collect another substantial cheque to add to his $22 million stockpile.
Robert Pallin is one of the hosts of Obviously Fight Talk podcast on radiomade.ie. Found also on iTunes & Stitcher. You can also check them out on Facebook and Twitter.