The fact that Conor McGregor is a rich guy is an understatement. The Irishman is the richest UFC fighter ever, period. And unlike most of the other fighters, he isn’t dependent on UFC fight earnings.

Recently, the ‘Notorious’ one bagged the title of the highest-paid athlete in the world. His achievement even eclipsed that of football mavericks Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to reports, the Irishman generated around $180 million in one year. Remarkably, only a small portion of that income has come via his UFC appearance. The ‘Notorious’ one made most of the income via sale of his proper 12 whiskey brand.

McGregor, along with co-founders Ken Austin and Audie Attar, sold their majority stake of the whiskey brand, Proper 12, to Proximo Spirits in a whopping $600 million deal. Proximo spirits previously owned a 49% stake in the business.

Ken Austin had revealed that the sum included $250 million in profit, earned in the two years since the launch of the brand. Shanken News Daily had first released the news that was later confirmed by Marc Raimondi of ESPN.

Proximo Spirits CEO Mike Keyes, while speaking to Shanken News, told that McGregor’s popularity was the reason the brand was so successful.

“It’s hard to predict how long it’s going to take, but I’m looking at a million cases and saying that’s a starting point for this brand. Conor is very, very fixated on this being a multi-million case brand. I wouldn’t count him out ever,” he said.

When Conor McGregor told Cristiano that he would be the number 1 paid athlete

McGregor once challenged Cristiano that he will surpass him in the highest-paid rankings list in 2016. The latter had visited him when he was training for his second match against Nate Diaz.

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“You were number one on the Forbes list. I was like number 35 or something. I’ll get up. Maybe next year I’ll get you,” McGregor told the football ace.

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To which, Ronaldo replied, “I don’t think so.”

Well, not the next year, but McGregor eventually surpassed him this year. And the reason for that is quite simple. His share in the selling of his whiskey brand, Proper 12.

What did you make of the news of Conor being the highest-paid athlete?

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