Conor McGregor can at least provide himself with some solace, after losing his fight with Floyd Mayweather at the weekend. He is officially richer than Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Dublin fighter overtook the Portuguese footballer in the most recent Forbes Rich List, courtesy of his superfight in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
What’s more, Conor McGregor predicted the whole thing a year ago. The man who has been known to refer to himself as ‘Mystic Mac’ – a reference to his love of predicting the round and the method by which he will win his UFC bouts – met Cristiano Ronaldo (who would tediously like us to call him CR7) last year and told the Real Madrid man that he would overtake him on the list of the world’s wealthiest athletes.
‘You were number one on the Forbes list, I was like number 35 or something. I’ll get up. Maybe next year I’ll get you,” said the Notorious to the reigning Ballon d’Or winner.
“I don’t think so,” replied the Portuguese.
With his move into boxing, however, McGregor increased his income by many multiples. Whereas he had previously topped out at around £3 million ($3,879,000) for his biggest earning fight in the UFC – his rematch defeat of Nate Diaz – Conor managed to take a minimum of £70m ($90.5m) for just ten rounds of action in Sin City over the weekend.
That figure is enough to lift him above the likes of Ronaldo, who was the highest ranking footballer, as well as basketball star LeBron James, tennis champ Roger Federer and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. Plus, it doesn’t even include his many other income streams, such as personal merchandise and marketing image rights.
The bad news for Conor is that, once again, he’s in second place to Floyd Mayweather.
The man appropriately known as ‘Money’ lived up to his nickname by topping the Forbes list, raking in upwards of £230m ($297m) for his role in the same fight. The 2017 list was announced before the Mayweather – McGregor fight, but even conservative estimates of both fighters’ purses would place them way ahead of anyone else on the list. Nice work, if you can get it.
The good news for Cristiano Ronaldo is that he still stands above long-term rival and perennial Ballon d’Or combatant Lionel Messi, who sits down in fifth place.
McGregor is the highest earner from the British Isles, ahead of Hamilton and fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy.
