You’ve heard all the bragging Conor McGregor has done about his paycheck. You’ve heard that Ronda Rousey is now the biggest PPV draw in the UFC. What you won’t be hearing is either UFC fighter being touted as one of the World’s 100 Highest-Paid Athletes. Not yet, anyway.
Forbes puts out a yearly list of the 100 athletes that make the most money, combining their salary/prize money and their endorsements. As usual, boxer Floyd Mayweather tops the list for 2015. His “Fight of the Century” bout with Manny Pacquiao in May propelled them to the top two spots, with two soccer superstars and a tennis icon rounding out the top five. Here’s how much they made:
1. Floyd Mayweather – 300 million
2. Manny Pacquiao – 160 million
3. Cristiano Ronaldo – 79.6 million
4. Lionel Messi – 73.8 million
5. Roger Federer – 67 million
Of course, I’m sure the UFC would say that things like discretionary bonuses and PPV points (not to mention the income from their individual Reebok deals) aren’t divulged, so theoretically a Rousey or McGregor or someone else could make the 18.8 million necessary to crack the top 100. Forbes has mentioned Rousey previously though, in their list of the top ten highest-paid female athletes in the world. That was back in early August, and she had made 6.5 million (3 million from fighting, 3.5 million from endorsements) from June 2014 to June 2015.
Considering that she probably got a huge paycheck for UFC 190 after it did a reported 900k PPV buys in August, and that she has a while left to continue to build her brand, she may be a bit closer to next year’s list than some people think. But she didn’t make it this year.
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