Conor McGregor Has Become The Highest Paid Combat Sportsman For 2016

It seems as if The Notorious has had a very, very profitable year. Following three record-breaking UFC events, Conor McGregor took home a cool $27million (£21million). And here I am wondering how to stretch a few quid until pay day.

The Irishman received an extra $7million (£5.4million) in endorsements, taking his full salary for last year to $34million (£26.6million). How do you even spend that much money?

He tied with Real Madrid's Gareth Bale as the 24^th highest paid athletes for the Forbes Rich list. The pair narrowly beat tennis player Kei Nishikori but were just beaten by Olympic runner Usain Bolt.

Credit: PA

While McGregor isn't in the top 10 of the list, he is the highest paid person in any form of combat. Boxer Canelo Alvarez was the closest person to The Notorious, at 43^rd after making $28.5million (£22.3million).

Anthony Joshua came in at 89^th with $22million (£17million) but he could rocket up that list for 2017's rankings after his spectacular defeat of Wladimir Klitschko, who came in at 98^th.

The top 10 features a range of sports, including football, tennis, NFL, basketball, golf and auto racing. It's probably no surprise that footballer Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list with a sensational $93million (£73million). Coming in second is basketballer Lebron James, while Barcelona football star Lionel Messi was third.

Credit: PA

Ronaldo came in third for the 2015 list and was a far cry away from the top two. Floyd Mayweather smashed the list, taking home $300million (£235million) in earnings, followed by his rival that year, Manny Pacquiao, who received $160million (£125million).

Those figures could be seen again for the 2017 rankings, if the Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather fight goes ahead. We're still waiting for the official word that the bout is happening but McGregor did throw some shade towards the American boxer in this tweet:

After striking a deal with his promotion, the UFC, McGregor spoke about the historic contract while waiting on his opponent's sides before the mega-fight can be made official.

"It is an honour to sign this record-breaking deal alongside my partners, Zuffa LLC, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Paradigm Sports Management," McGregor said to The Mac Life.

But we're still playing the waiting game.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Conor Mcgregor

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie