Forbes reveals the highest-paid athletes of 2022, Conor McGregor comes in at No. 35

Forbes has revealed the list of highest-paid athletes of 2022 and UFC star Conor McGregor has come in at Number 35.

Forbes tracked income collected between May 1, 2021, and May 1, 2022 to come up with the Top 50 athletes.

It was just last year, in 2021, that Conor McGregor was ranked by Forbes as Number 1 in the highest paid athletes category. It was reported that the Irishman earned $180 million for that year, partly due to selling a majority share in his whiskey brand ‘Proper No. 12’.

Although dropping from Number 1 to Number 35, McGregor is still by far the highest earning mixed martial artist. It is understandable that his earnings were less for the 2022 Forbes list, due to his leg injury in the fight with Dustin Poirier which has kept his out of action, recovering and then ultimately training to get back in the cage. Conor McGregor reportedly took home $43 million coming from fight purses and endorsements and sponsorship deals.

The top earning athlete from combat sports, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, a Mexican boxer, was the only person to crack the top 10 in 2022.  Alvarez reportedly took home $90 million, which came from fight purses and endorsement and sponsorship deals.

Image: Canelo Alvarez on Instagram

The retired heavyweight boxing king, Tyson Fury, came in at Number 18 on the list after making $62 million.

Another notable is former YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul. Paul made his first appearance on Forbes list, coming in at Number 46. ‘The Problem Child‘ reportedly earned $38 million for the year, which included fight purses and endorsement and sponsorship deals.

It was to be a total of four combat sports athletes who made Forbes 2022 list of the top 50, which included Canelo Alvarez (#8), Tyson Fury (#18), Conor McGregor (#35) and Jake Paul (#46).