The top ten places on the list of the highest paid athletes in 2020 just published by the magazine Forbes they are mostly occupied by figures from so-called mass sports. Soccer, basketball, tennis or American football. Disciplines that bring together millions of fans from around the world to pay TV channels at prime time. However, the first place this year is not occupied by Messi, second with 107 million euros; nor Cristiano Ronaldo, who closes the podium with 98 million. The Irish Conor McGregor has been the one who has earned the most, with a total of 180 million dollars, about 147 million euros.
He is not a footballer or tennis player, he is a mixed martial arts fighter. A sport that has provided McGregor with earnings within the octagon, that is, fighting, of about 20 million. The remaining 127 he has amassed between sponsorships and his personal businesses. His rise to the top of this list, in which he has unseated the best tennis player in history Roger Federer, is the latest conquest of a man who has a history of overcoming behind him and who for many years has filled headlines with violent incidents and eccentricities. At the same time, he boasts of family stability and has just celebrated the birth of his third child with his fiancee Dee Devlin. The new member of the clan, Rían, has come into the world with his father placed in salary ahead of superstars such as Neymar, LeBron James or Tom Brady.
It is striking that Conor McGregor has been the athlete who has won the most at one point in his career as a fighter for the UFC (the main mixed martial arts company on the planet), in which he is considered semi-retired. The Irishman achieved enormous popularity about a decade ago, and not only because of his abilities in this contact discipline in which punches and kicks are allowed, as well as knees, elbows or strangles. He broke into the elite of this unique sport breaking molds, with a charismatic personality and with a style different from that of the rest of the fighters. More modern, very careful in his hairstyle and clothes, and with the latest tattoos. His provocative character and his victories did the rest. He has been a featherweight and lightweight champion, but today, about to turn 33 years old, he does not occupy the top positions of the UFC rankings. What’s more, he announced his withdrawal in 2016 on Facebook and the next day he retracted. The same thing happened in March 2019 via Twitter, and in the end The Notorius, as he is nicknamed, decided to return to the octagon. His next fight is scheduled for July and will be his third against Dustin Poirier. The last one resulted in a defeat for McGregor in record time and for the first time in his career, by KO A delicate situation that has not slowed down his popularity in a sport in which he started after being a victim of bullying at the institute in his native Dublin , and that has led him to earn 150 euros a month to 150 million a year.
Much of the blame for his top spot on the list of Forbes The sale of his whiskey brand, Proper No. Twelve, from the Eire Born Spirits company, owned by the wrestler himself and his representative, has it, according to the magazine. Disposing of that business would have brought him an income of about 100 million, although the Irishman has other, as well as properties. One of them a consequence of his competitive nature, since he bought a pub in Dublin where he had a confrontation with a man only to not let him enter the premises again.
It has not been his only controversy. He and his team have been in fights with other fighters before and after several fights. McGregor was arrested in Miami for robbery, after taking the cell phone from an admirer who was taking photos of him. Something that contrasts with an image of a loving man with his family. He usually shares endearing images with his children and with his partner, and of the luxurious life he enjoys with them. He collects luxury cars and watches, and has a custom Rolls Royce. He owns a mansion in Marbella, another in Ireland and an authentic palace in Las Vegas, although he now resides in the United Arab Emirates. Also a Lamborghini yacht, and has shown other eccentricities like paying almost 900 euros for a gold-plated steak in an exclusive New York restaurant.
Others seem less viable, like his desire to have a soccer team. He said he would like to buy Manchester United. But some are already a fact. In 2016 he had a meeting in the city of casinos with Cristiano Ronaldo, which was recorded in a video that this week has gone viral. At that time the Portuguese was the best paid, and McGregor told him: “You are number 1 on the list. Forbes, I’m 35 or something like that, but I’m going to go up. Maybe next year I will catch you ”. It took five, but he did it.
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