UFC titan Conor McGregor finished top of the pile on Forbes 2021 list of highest paid athletes in the world, taking home a jaw-dropping $180m in the twelve months preceding the list's publication.
He pipped Lionel Messi to the post, who missed out on the title of richest athlete on the globe by around $50m, earning $130m during his final full year as a Barcelona player before he was forced to call time on his 21-year stay at the Camp Nou.
In terms of who will take next year's crown, McGregor appears to have already gone some way to conceding defeat after admitting he is going to find it difficult to topple Messi's astronomical Paris Saint-Germain earnings, especially due to the fact the Irishman will not be competing in the UFC for the remainder of the year due to a broken leg suffered in his most recent bout against Dustin Poirier.
McGregor was quick to state how he shouldn't be ruled out just yet, as he wrote on Instagram : "It’s crazy how this team [PSG] has scooped all these incredible players up, and in such quick succession too.
"Messi is on 75mill U.S dollar a year, flat. Not including endorsement on top. He be hard to beat this year on the Forbes list without one more fight in the book.
"But that said don’t count me out. We are only 2 months into this new Forbes fiscal year and I already have his years wage boxed off."
There is a stark contrast in how the two athletes make their money, as Forbes report that only $22m of McGregor's huge $180m annual earnings came from fighting, the rest amassed via a number of lucrative sponsorship deals.
McGregor also owns renowned Irish whiskey company Proper No. Twelve, of which he sold a huge stake to Proximo Spirits in a deal that was thought to be worth as much as $600 million.
Messi, on the other hand, made $97m of his $130m yearly fortune through his final Barcelona contract - which was actually more fruitful than his current deal with French giants PSG.
Penned in 2017, the deal had a value of over $650m over its four-year duration depending if certain variables were met.
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According to a report from Spanish outlet El Mundo, it provided Messi with a $161m annual base salary, a $135m signing bonus and a $91m-plus loyalty payment.
A recent Forbes report claimed that Messi will take home a portion of his image rights, which covers things such as shirt sales - in turn, bumping his annual salary up to the $75m mark.
