Conor McGregor has overtaken LeBron James on the list of highest-paid athletes. LeBron could be the emperor on the basketball court but now he can only watch Conor’s back! The main reason – Conor is ranked better than basketball superstar in the Forbes list of world’s highest-paid athletes for 2018. (via MMAMania.com)
The Notorious is currently placed fourth with $99 million. It happened mostly due to his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr last August. Floyd Mayweather Jr is on the first place with $285 million, while LeBron James is currently sixth – $88.5 million.
Here are Forbes criteria for this year’s list:
“Our earnings include prize money, salaries and bonuses earned between June 1, 2017, and June 1, 2018. Endorsement incomes are an estimate of sponsorships, appearance fees and licensing incomes for the same 12-month period based on conversations with dozens of industry insiders. We do not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees, and we don’t include investment income. It is harder than ever to qualify for the 100 highest-paid athletes, with the cutoff up $1.5 million to $22.9 million.”
Conor McGregor had a Forbes debut in 2016 when he was ranked 85th. Last year, he climbed up a lot and reached position 24. Irish superstar doesn’t have many chances to overtake Floyd Mayweather Jr, especially due to the fact he hasn’t competed since his loss to Mayweather in August 2017. Conor McGregor isn’t even booked to compete!
There is no fighter in the world of mixed martial arts who earned that much money. Those who have bigger salaries usually gather their pay-per-view (PPV) points. That is the main reason why many of them join Conor McGregor on trash talking list. Colby Covington is a good example of Irishman’s bad copy.
It looks like money brings a lot of problems – hate, anger, jealousy, insults… The era of trash-talkers and mean fighters are coming. What do you think, how many fighters will follow McGregor’s path?
