Even though former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) double champ, Conor McGregor, has not won a combat sports contest in almost three years, “Notorious” has never stopped winning financially. Indeed, the No. 21-ranked “highest-paid athlete in sports” — who is estimated to haul in $47 million in 2019 — was named the seventh-highest most valuable athlete on social media.

The report gauges who had the highest total interactions — likes, comments and shares on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — on their social media accounts during the first six months of 2019. McGregor is the only non-soccer player among the top seven athletes, chief among Cristiano Ronaldo, the worldwide soccer sensation with a ridiculous 178 million Instagram followers (McGregor boasts 31.4 million).

Forbes.com breaks down the key to his social success:

“He often uses his social channels to promote his Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey brand, which sold more than 200,000 cases since its launch last year. This short clip announcing the launch of the brand in Australia had 4.4 million views.”

All top 7 except the Irishman were from football, with Ronaldo leading the list with 887.2 million interactions, Lionel Messi (867.1 million), Neymar (289 million), Kylian Mbappe (167.6 million).

Conor McGregor is the only non-soccer player among the top seven of social media’s most valuable athletes https://t.co/vNKxYhYS7G pic.twitter.com/2JzdZZyBcd

— Forbes SportsMoney (@ForbesSports) August 6, 2019

source: mmamania.com