Khabib Nurmagomedov defeats McGregor, Adesanya & others to become UFC's top earner of 2020

Conor McGregor is considered by many the biggest star in MMA, who transcended the sport and took it to a different level. Any PPV he features on becomes gold and goes on to break PPV records. UFC 246 is one of the biggest examples of that as the McGregor vs Cowboy headliner went on to become the biggest selling PPV of 2020. Despite this, The Notorious One was surprisingly not the highest-paid UFC star of the past year.

That honour has gone to his arch-rival Khabib Nurmagomedov, who took home $6,090,000 in 2020 – around $3 million more than The Mystic Man. The Russian retired from the sport after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 and, just like McGregor, that was his only outing of the year.

Also Read l McGregor 2020 earnings: Is McGregor UFC's best-selling fighter ever? 

While Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor in the salary list, his October headliner against Gaethje was not able to beat McGregor vs Cowboy, in terms of PPV sales. UFC 246 made around $1.35 million in PPV sales, while UFC 254 brought in only $675,000 – becoming the fifth biggest PPV of 2020. However, all these numbers pale in comparison to what the Nurmagomedov vs McGregor PPV made in 2018. The two rivals collided at UFC 229, which went on to make a record-breaking $2.4 million in PPV sales – the biggest PPV in UFC history.

Also Read l McGregor 2020 earnings: McGregor hails UFC 246 as highest-selling PPV of 2020

UFC 2020 top earners: Dos Santos, Adesanya, Gaethje in the top 5

While Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor took the first and second spot, respectively, Junior dos Santos became the third biggest earner of 2020- taking home $1.56 million. UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya was at the fourth spot, followed by Justin Gaethje, who delivered some incredible performances in 2020, facing veterans like Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Also Read l Khabib 2020 earnings: Nurmagomedov officially launches own MMA brand EFC

UFC 2020 top earners: UFC’s Top 25 earners of 2020

1. Khabib Nurmagomedov: $6,090,000
2. Conor McGregor: $3,060,000
3. Junior dos Santos: $1,560,000
4. Israel Adesanya: $1,230,000
5. Justin Gaethje: $920,000
6. Jose Aldo: $900,000
7. Deiveson Figueiredo: $875,000
8. Anthony Pettis: $855,000
9. Alistair Overeem: $830,000
10. Stipe Miocic: $790,000
11. Dominick Reyes: $760,000
12. Robert Whittaker: $745,000
13. Marcin Tybura: $701,000
14. Andrei Arlovski: $695,000
15. Tony Ferguson: $695,000
16. Donald Cerrone: $660,000
17. Kamaru Usman: $640,000
18. Anderson Silva: $620,000
19. Derrick Lewis: $620,000
20. Anthony Smith: $615,000
21. Jan Blachowicz: $590,000
22. Jim Miller: $583,000
23. Charles Oliveira: $557,200
24. Kevin Holland: $553,000
25. Glover Teixeira: $550,000

Also Read l Khabib return: Nurmagomedov says he’ll return to UFC if his mother “gives her blessing”

Image Source: Israel Adesanya/ Instagram, AP