McGregor One Of Two Irishmen Named On ESPN List Of World’s Most Famous Athletes

Crumlin’s finest Conor McGregor has been named the 25th most famous athlete on the planet according to a prestigious list released today. 

US-based sports media company ESPN today released their annual list which ranks sports stars based on ‘a formula that combines endorsements with social media following and internet search popularity ‘. 

Just one look at the top 25 tells you the kind of esteemed company The Notorious has now found himself in. 

Soccer superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi finished in 1st and 3rd place respectively, separated only by basketball giant LeBron James. 

Roger Federer and Phil Mickelson made sure that the worlds of tennis and gold featured in the top five while McGregor finished at 25, just ahead of another soccer icon in Zlatan Ibrahimovic. 

The stats reveal that McGregor has racked up $4m in endorsements, has 11.1m Instagram followers as well as 5.2m on Facebook and 3.6m on Twitter. Not bad for a fella who was claiming the dole not so long ago. 

However, Conor isn’t even the highest placed Irishman on the list. That honour goes to golfer Rory McIlroy who finished in 14th place. Rory’s $35m in endorsements really puts McGregor in the shade but he lags behind in terms of social media following with a relatively measly 1.2m Instagram followers.

The full list makes for fascinating reading and can be checked out here.  

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