Conor McGregor rockets up the Forbes 'World's Highest-Paid Athletes Of 2017' list

It's been another great year for UFC superstar Conor McGregor.

Last year, the Irish lightweight champion made his first appearance on the ‘Forbes World's Highest-Paid Athletes’ list at #85, earning an estimated $18 million in fight purses and $4 million in endorsements ... a statistic he disputed by claiming he made closer to $40 million.

The new list for 2017 has just come out and maybe "The Notorious" will feel a bit better represented at #24 with $27 million in purse and $7 million in endorsements for a total of $34 million dollars. That puts him in good company alongside names like world record shattering sprinter Usain Bolt ($34.2 million) and Chicago Bulls player Derrick Rose ($34.3 million).

He's still got a ways to go if he wants to crack the top three, which this year features soccer player Lionel Messi ($80 million), the NBA's LeBron James ($86.2 million), and soccer god Cristiano Ronaldo ($93 million).

But all things are possible if a boxing match between McGregor and Floyd Mayweather comes together this fall as expected. While there's still a lot of unknowns regarding purse split and customer interest, UFC president Dana White recently said he expects McGregor to clear $75 million when all is said and done off that fight. McGregor, once again, feels like that's a lowball estimate, and said he expects over $100 million from the fight.

McGregor stands as the only UFC fighter to ever make it onto the Forbes list, although Ronda Rousey was included in their 2015 'World’s Highest Paid Female Athletes' list with $14 million in pay. That wasn't good enough to crack into the main list, which started at #100 with San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey making $20.6 million.

I guess this settles the debate on who the biggest UFC star is.