Conor McGregor ranks among social media’s most valuable athletes

Conor McGregor has a massive social media presence. In fact, according to Forbes SportsMoney, the Irish MMA superstar is one of the most valuable athletes on social media, with a whopping 159.7M interactions recorded.

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

“Conor McGregor is the only non-soccer player among the top seven athletes ranked by total interactions,” Forbes SportsMoney’s report explains. “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.”

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov also boasts impressive figures on social media, as do boxers Anthony Joshua, Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez.

“The top 5 athletes in total interactions involved in combat sports are McGregor (159.7 million), Khabib Nurmagomedov (111.1 million), Anthony Joshua (41.6 million), Floyd Mayweather (31.4 million) and [Canelo] Alvarez (26 million).”

While Conor McGregor is known to keep his Twitter fingers busy, it’s been awhile since he actually fought.

His last bout occurred in the main event of UFC 229 last October, when he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov. Prior to that, he competed in a lucrative boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, which he lost by 10th round TKO.

McGregor’s last win inside the Octagon occurred in late 2016, when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to capture the UFC lightweight belt. He still held the featherweight belt at the time, which made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes concurrently.

Are you surprised Conor McGregor has managed to maintain such high engagement on Twitter despite his infrequent fights?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/7/2019.