Conor McGregor joins five boxers on the list.
According to Forbes, Conor McGregor is still the highest paid MMA fighter in the world. The former champion may have lost his only bout last year against Khabib Nurmagomedov, but he earned enough from the record breaking PPV to be ranked by the outlet as the #21 highest paid athlete in the world.
Forbes estimates that McGregor earned a total of $47 million in the past year. $32 million of that is said to come from his bout against Khabib, while $15 million is said to be from endorsements.
They note McGregor’s renewed Reebok sponsorship to be worth around $5 million a year, and his other endorsements to be from Beats Electronics, Burger King, Monster Energy, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Budweiser.
In the 2018 list, McGregor was ranked at #4 ($99M) mostly due to his Mayweather bout, and in 2017 he was at #24 ($34M).
No other MMA fighters were on the list, but there are a handful of boxers included, including two who were ranked much higher than McGregor.
Canelo Alvarez was at the top 4 of the list, earning a whopping $94 million, while Anthony Joshua earned $55 million to be ranked at #13. Three more boxers were ranked in the top 100, with Deontay Wilder at #56 ($30.5M), Manny Pacquiao at #92 ($26M), and Gennady Golovkin at #95 ($25.5).
The three athletes who earned higher than Canelo are all football players, with FC Barcelona megastar Lionel Messi topping the entire list by earning $127 million.