UFC star Conor McGregor earned $8.5 million per minute in 2021, dwarfs Ronaldo & Messi

MMA fighter Conor McGregor made a whopping $8.6 million (Rs 63.5 crore) per minute in 2021, dwarfing the likes of football stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. According to the Online Betting Guide, McGregor earned one million dollars per seven seconds of his sport last year. It's worth noting that the data only lists McGregor's playing time in 2021 as three minutes, excluding his July rematch with Dustin Poirier. In 2021, McGregor earned a total $22 million in a three-minute UFC appearance making it $8,695,652 per minute.

While Lionel Messi is placed No. 23 on the list, Ronaldo occupied the No. 25 position. The data shows that Messi earned a total of $97 million while playing football in 2021. The former Barcelona forward took 43 minutes and 13 seconds to make one million dollars as he earned only $23,139 per minute. Ronaldo, on the other hand, took 53 minutes and 35 seconds to make per million as he earned only $18,662 per minute in 2021. Ronaldo earned $70 million last year as he gave 3,751 minutes of playing time to his team. 

American football dominates

Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez is placed No. 2 on the list as he earned a staggering $4.4 million per minute in 2021. As per the report, Alvarez took two minutes and 15 seconds to make one million dollars. The 31-year-old was involved in 72 minutes of play last year and earned a total of $32 million. The rest of the top-10 is dominated by American football superstars like Dak Prescott, Ronnie Stanley, David Bakhtiari, and Joey Bosa.

Here's the list of top-10 athletes with the highest earning per minute:

Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr, who plays for Paris Saint Germain alongside Lionel Messi, is No. 17 on the list with earnings of $32,716 per minute. Neymar took 30 minutes and 34 seconds to make one million dollars last year. He earned a total of $76 million in 2021 and the data lists his playing time as 2,323 minutes. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving are amongst the basketball players who made the most money per minute last year.