Conor McGregor Beats Messi & Ronaldo To Be Forbes' Highest Paid Athlete In 2020

The famous Forbes magazine has named Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) superstar Conor McGregor as the highest paid athlete in 2020 ahead of Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo.

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Conor McGregor wasn’t stop by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or the loss in his UFC 252 match with Diamond as the UFC superstar was the world’s highest-earning athlete in 2020 reportedly raking in $180 million in the year under review.

The reports indicates McGregor made an amount of $22 million for his UFC 2nd-round technical knockout loss fight to Diamond but it was the whiskey money that reportedly carried McGregor to the top spot on the list.

It stated that the UFC superstar made a whooping amount of $158 million outside the Octagon with an overwhelming majority of that cash coming from his sale of the famous ‘Proper 12 Irish Whiskey’.

This marks the first time Conor McGregor is topping the list after coming close in 2018 when he placed 4th with $99 million in that year with most of the money coming from his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.

Football ‘gods’ Linoel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo came in second and third with $130 million and $120 million respectively.

National Football League (NFL) quarterback Dak Prescott came in as the forth highest paid athlete in 2020 with $107.5 million with NBA superstar LeBron James continuing to by the league’s high paid player and placing fifth on the list with $96.5 million.

The most expensive football player Neymar Junior placed sixth with an amount of $95 million earnings in 2020. Tennis legend Roger Federer was seventh earning $90 million in 2020 with the eighth place going to Formula1 champion Lewis Hamilton with $82 million.

NFL champion quarterback Tom Brady came in on the ninth position with $76 million after winning the championship with Tampa and Brooklyn Nets superstar and two times NBA champion Kevin Durant completing the top 10 list with $75 million.