Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight titleholder Conor McGregor was hoping to unseat soccer deity Cristiano Ronaldo from the No. 1 spot in Forbes annual list of highest-paid athletes.
Better luck next time.
McGregor thought a December return to mixed martial arts (MMA) — coupled with his Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout this August — would be enough to command the financial magazine’s top spot for 2018.
Alas, it was not meant to be (via MMA Fighting):
“What was really making me want that Dec. 30 fight was the Forbes list. I thought it was January to January, so I thought I had more time to hit the No. 1 spot. If I would have fought Floyd, then the Dec. 30 fight, that would have put me in the No. 1 spot. It’s actually July to July. I said I was gonna fight, I am gonna fight. I always want to fight. I’m an active motherfucker. What else would I be doing?”
McGregor made his debut on the Forbes list in 2016, clocking in at No. 85 with roughly $22 million in disclosed earnings. He made a significant jump the following year, landing at No. 24 with an estimated net of $34 million.
Mayweather placed No. 16 in 2016 with $44 million but was absent from last year’s list due to inactivity. That said, I guess we’ll find out who the real “A-side” is when the disclosed purses are revealed for the upcoming “Money Fight.”
Stay tuned.
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