Conor McGregor climbs six spots to No. 16 on Forbes ‘World’s Highest-Paid Athletes’ list for 2020

Boxer Tyson Fury was tops in combat sports, taking in an estimated $57 million to land at No. 11.

Imagine only competing once per calendar year and still making the Top 20 list of world’s highest-paid athletes. That should tell you everything you need to know about the success and popularity of former UFC two-division champion, Conor McGregor.

Greatest MMA fighter of all time? No. Undisputed king of prize fighting? Hell yeah.

McGregor raked in more than $30 million for his first-round finish over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 last January in Las Vegas, Nevada, his first fight since losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 back in late 2018. In addition, “Notorious” cashed another $5 million from Reebok as part of his individual sponsorship deal.

When all was said and done, McGregor made $32 million from fighting and $16 million from endorsements over the last 12 months, good enough for the No. 16 spot on Forbes “World’s Highest-Paid Athletes” list for 2020.

That’s up five places from this time last year.

Tennis superstar Roger Federer took the top spot with a whopping $106.3 million, though it should be noted that only $6.3 million of that came from actual competition. The remainder was all paid in endorsements, which includes the Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo.

A date for McGregor’s next UFC fight has yet to be determined.