Immortalised in wax at Madame Tussauds in New York
A wax statue of McGregor is revealed at Madame Tussauds’s in New York. His statue is the latest addition to the athletes’ wing, alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Muhammad Ali, with the area transformed into a theme of mixed martial arts and boxing for its arrival. McGregor is only the second UFC fighter after Chuck Liddell to have his likeness on display at the museum.
‘McGregor’ and ‘Notorious’: top new cat names in Dublin
McGregor inspires the top two places on the newcomers list of cat names in Dublin in 2018, according to a Just Cats survey of over 70,000 pet owners from the greater Dublin area. ‘McGregor’ and ‘Notorious’ are number one and two on the newcomers list. Overall, ‘Molly’ is the most popular cat name, followed by ‘Charlie’ and then ‘Max’. Other top names on the newcomers list include ‘Trump’, ‘Khaleesi’, ‘Jon Snow’, ‘Harry’ and ‘Meghan’. RVN Veterinary Nurse, Roisin Foran says:
Our annual survey is conducted across 13 veterinary clinics in Dublin and Meath over a 12 month period…The old reliable names such as Kitty, Tiger and Daisy continue to pop up year after year, but it’s the zany, pop-culture and news-driven names that really grab our attention when they enter our clinic.
No.4 on Forbes Highest Paid Athletes list
Forbes magazine ranks McGregor as the 4th highest earning athlete in the world for 2018. McGregor earned $99 million, primarily from the $85 million he earned by boxing Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017. Mayweather tops the list with $285 million, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo second and third.
Made it to number 4 on the Forbes list this year. If I had fought on the agreed May 12th bout in Rio de Janeiro, I would have surpassed Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi to take [second] place…Something came up however….Ah well, still under 30.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjsOVWiAJyj/
Honoured at Best of Ireland Gala
McGregor is honoured at the 7th annual Best Of Ireland Gala in New York City for his continuing charitable work with children’s hospitals in Ireland. McGregor attended the event with his partner Dee Devlin as well as his MMA coach John Kavanagh and his girlfriend Orlagh Hunter. The event is held every year into raise funds for the Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin in Dublin and Children’s Medical Research Foundation (CMRF).
I look forward to hearing and seeing reports of where the money is put to use in the hospital. What a great night!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BepQ5AYg9DV/
McGregor enters Ireland’s Rich List at 111
McGregor, estimated to be worth €140 million, enters Ireland’s Rich List at 111 and is the second highest new entrant. He was beat by a young tech entrepreneur, Tommy Kelly, who operates eShopworld, which makes cross border shopping easier. Kelly is estimated to be worth around €150 million.
McGregor vs Branson face off
McGregor receives a lifetime achievement award at the Pendulum Summit in Dublin, from the annual business summit group that attracts rich corporate leaders from across Europe. When McGregor goes to the stage to be given the award by Branson, they both take off their shirts and face off. McGregor:
He is not a knighted Sir on this soil.
https://youtu.be/5bfoJ5AcGmQ
McGregor is ranked top “Sports Figure” by Fansided
McGregor comes fifth overall and tops the list for the “Sports Figure” category in Fansided’s annual Fandom 250 ranking. In 2016, McGregor was ranked at number 147 on the list. The only sports celebrity higher in the ranking is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Fansided says one of the biggest factors for the ranking was how McGregor dominated headlines in the media worldwide with his fight against Floyd Mayweather.
The numbers support this. Mayweather vs. McGregor is a top-two most watched pay-per-views in combat sports history and was already the biggest draw in UFC history entering the year. McGregor’s newborn son gained tens of thousands of Instagram followers the day he was born. In a 12-month stretch leading into the fight against Mayweather, McGregor added 13 million followers on social media and his posts generated 419 million interactions.
McGregor-Mayweather breaks the all-time PPV record
Dana White says that last weekend’s super-fight has generated a record-breaking 6.5 million pay-per-view buys, a figure which would dwarf the previous record of 4.6 million, set by Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, by almost 2 million. This is despite the three million people who illegally streamed the fight. The final figure could be higher, as it doesn’t include sales outside the United States. It will also mean that McGregor holds the pay-per-view record for both boxing and mixed martial arts. The 6.5 million figure also beats the cumulative total for the top five UFC pay-per-views in the company’s history, and is five times larger than any WWE PPV event ever. The fight will go down in history as one of the single most profitable sports events ever.
Wow. In this Instagram story post by Urijah Faber, Dana White says #MayweatherMcGregor did 6.5M PPV buys. pic.twitter.com/JBJGNUDy7q
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) August 30, 2017
Three million people illegally streamed McGregor-Mayweather fight
Almost 3 million people watched Saturday’s McGregor-Mayweather fight using illegal streams, according to web security company, Irdeto. Viewers used online links to get around paying the $99.95 charged in the US for the high-definition pay-per-view (£19.95 in the UK). 239 illegal streams of the fight were watched by 2,930,598 people. Had they all paid, even at a lower rate, the illegal audiences would have brought in at least $60 million more.
McGregor nominated for 2017 ESPY award
McGregor is nominated for “Best International Athlete” and “Best Fighter” at the 2017 ESPY awards. Opposing him in the votes for Best International Athlete (see online votes here) are Canelo Alvarez (boxing), Usain Bolt (track and field), Katinka Hosszu (swimming), and Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer). In the Best Fighter category McGregor is up against UFC champion Demetrious Johnson — ranked one slot above McGregor in the pound-for-pound list — as well as boxing’s Terence Crawford, Gennady Golovkin, and Andre Ward.
McGregor breaks into top 25 on Forbes highest paid athletes
According to Forbes, McGregor is the 24th placed highest paid athlete in the world. He earned $34 million over the past year, which including his pair of fights against Nate Diaz as well as his lightweight championship win over Eddie Alvarez. McGregor earned $27 million from his fight purses with another $7 million earned in endorsements and sponsorships. Since Floyd Mayweather’s retired in 2015, McGregor is the highest paid combat sports athlete, and is the only mixed martial artist to make the top 100 list. The highest ranked boxer is Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who earned a reported $28.5 million. McGregor is ahead of NBA superstars Carmelo Anthony ($32.6 million), Kyrie Irving ($29.9 million) and NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown ($31.9 million). The UFC lightweight champion was the first ever mixed martial arts to crack the top 100 last year when he came in at No. 85 with $18 million in reported earnings.
Horan beats McGregor to become Ireland’s most followed person on Twitter
Horan (@NiallOfficial) becomes Ireland’s most followed person on Twitter, after hitting the 30 million mark. The former One Direction star has almost eight times as many followers as his nearest rivals – Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) and WWE star Sheamus (@WWESheamus), who each have 4.1 million fans. Horan’s fans could fill Croke Park 408 times. Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) comes fourth with 3.1 million followers.
McGregor 25th in ESPN’s Most Famous Athletes list
McGregor is listed as 25th in ESPN’s Most Famous Athletes list, 12 spots up from the same list last year. The list is tallied by combining endorsements, social media following and internet search popularity. Floyd Mayweather is not listed. The only other Irishman is golfer Rory McIlroy, at 14th place. ESPN:
Described as looking ‘exactly like the Notre Dame logo’, the Irish fighter is the reigning UFC lightweight champion and former undisputed featherweight champ (which he became with a 13-second stoppage of José Aldo during the fastest championship victory in UFC history). He’s the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view draw and a colourful talker and boaster, which has prompted comparisons to Muhammad Ali.
McGregor named as one of Time’s ‘100 Most Influential People’
Time names McGregor as one of the world’s 100 ‘most influential people’. Schwarzenegger writes his praise for the fighter.
Conor McGregor is more than a fighter, more than an athlete, more than a champion—although, as the first person in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship to hold titles in two weight divisions at once, he is clearly all of those things. Conor is also the rare personality who has become bigger than his sport. That lean, compact body must struggle to keep his enormous character inside. From the first time I met Conor, I knew he wasn’t the type of star you could box into one category. Since I’ve gotten to know him, I can tell you that what you see on the screen—the now familiar face of mixed martial arts—just scratches the surface. The Dublin native is razor-sharp, disciplined and charismatic. His energy is absolutely contagious, to the point where you almost start shouting in an Irish accent after 30 seconds of hearing that world-famous mouth.
Thank you @TIME magazine and @Schwarzenegger for including me in this years "TIME 100 Most influential people" list 🙌 pic.twitter.com/bW9tsRoQHR
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 20, 2017
Poll: Ireland’s favourite male sports personality
The Phillip Lee Sport Report, which surveyed 1,000 adults aged 16 to 75 online in October 2016, names McGregor as Ireland’s favourite sports’ personality. Former Ireland and Munster player Paul O’Connell ties McGregor as the country’s most popular male sports personality. The report found Katie Taylor to be Ireland’s most popular female sports personality, coming ahead of Sonia O’Sullivan, Cora Staunton, Annalise Murphy and Dearbhal O’Rourke.
Named most marketable Irish person for 2017
McGregor is named the most marketable Irish person for 2017, beating 2016’s number one Paul O’Connell who now lies in second place after his rugby retirement. Robbie Henshaw is third, followed by Katie Taylor. On McGregor’s success, the company that ran the survey says:
I think it’s ultimately down to momentum, a lot of brands try to align themselves with where there is momentum. They want to be associated with success.
McGregor, Rousey biggest part of 2016 record UFC PPV views
McGregor and Rousey drew the biggest pay-per-view buys in a record year for the UFC. Approximately 8,370,000 buys were sold on 13 shows in 2016, an all-time record average of 644,000 buys per show. This compares with 550,000 average per show in 2015 and 265,000 in 2014. Most shows were small but McGregor, Rousey, and UFC 200 did one million buys plus. With Rousey’s future undetermined, and McGregor taking a break, the outlook for 2017 is weak.
Named one of Forbes ‘30 under 30 Europe’
McGregor is named in Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Europe list. Forbes:
Known for his aggressive fighting style, this versatile mixed martial arts fighter has both lightweight and featherweight championships under his belt. And The Notorious, as he’s known, is making money with every punch: A single fight in August earned him a $3 million purse.
SI.com’s MMA Fighter Of The Year
McGregor is awarded SI.com’s MMA Fighter Of The Year.
Entering 2016, McGregor was established as the brightest star in the sport, and by the end of the year he was the sport as he transcended into the mainstream and earned S.comI’s MMA fighter of the year award. His pursuit of two titles was a storyline that played out over nearly the whole calendar year and transfixed fans. He headlined the biggest event in the sport’s history with one of its most iconic moments. Even though he was temporarily sidetracked from his ultimate goal by Nate Diaz, he smashed pay-per-view records in every one of his fights…In pop culture, McGregor made appearances on late night television shows like Conan and garnered a role in the forthcoming season of Game of Thrones. He played a character in the latest Call of Duty game. He was tapped for a role in the new xXx movie before pulling out to focus on the Diaz rematch. His trademark strut has become iconic in sports with world-class athletes around the globe mimicking the champion. Cristiano Ronaldo went and trained with McGregor in Las Vegas and McGregor went to Jennifer Lopez’s birthday party.
GQ: McGregor fourth best dressed man of the year
GQ Magazine names McGregor as the fourth the best dressed men of 2016. The list was compiled by Giorgio Armani, Sarah Burton, Tom Ford, Elton John, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood. Drake beats lat year’s winner, Eddie Redmayne, to the top of the chart. McGregor:
There are two things I really like to do and that’s whoop ass and look good.