Conor McGregor tops Forbes' Top 10 list of highest paid athletes for the first time ever

Conor McGregor has topped the list amongst the world's highest paid athletes, according to Forbes' recently updated rankings. The Irishman has made it to the #1 spot for the first time having collected $180 million over the last 12 months.

Conor McGregor is named the Forbes number 1 highest paid athlete for 2021. https://t.co/IJxkfSUhHH pic.twitter.com/fS4yXD3hub

— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) May 12, 2021

As per reports, most of Conor McGregor's earnings came from the recent sale of his majority stake in whiskey brand Proper No. Twelve to Proximo Spirits for $150 million.

McGregor made $158 million out of the ring over the last 12 months, becoming only the third athlete, after Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, to earn more than $70 million off the field in a single year while still actively competing.

This is Conor McGregor's second appearance in Forbes' Top 10 list of highest paid athletes, having made it to #4 in 2018 after his fight against Floyd Mayweather.

Pay-per-view revenue: £500 million Floyd Mayweather's earnings: $275 millionConor McGregor's earnings: $85 millionLive gate: $55 million'The Money Fight' took place two years ago today. 💵 https://t.co/ZFwRnBUkGZ

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) August 26, 2019

Although most sports suffered a huge setback in 2020, the year seems to have been financially beneficial for top tier athletes. The ten highest-paid athletes in the world took home pre-tax gross earnings of $1.05 billion over the past 12 months, 28% more than last year’s top earners.

The amount falls just a few million short of the $1.06 billion record set in 2018, the credit for which goes to Floyd Mayweather. As the highest paid athlete in 2018, Floyd Mayweather earned $285 million, almost all of it from his 2017 boxing bout with Conor McGregor.

Read here: How much does Conor McGregor Earn?

Conor McGregor has featured in the highest selling UFC pay-per-views

While Conor McGregor might have made most of his earnings outside of the Octagon, he is still the biggest star in the UFC. 'The Notorious One' has featured in all of the UFC's top five drawing pay-per-views and seven of the top ten drawing UFC pay-per-views overall as well.

Conor McGregor's last fight against Dustin Poirier did a whopping 1.6 million PPV buys worldwide with 1.2 million on ESPN+ in the United States. UFC 257 was the second highest selling pay-per-view in the history of the promotion, second only to the grudge match between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The UFC 229 headliner posted a UFC record of 2.4 million pay-per-view buys. The much anticipated trilogy fight between McGregor and Poirier is also likely to fatten McGregor's purse.