Rousey, McGregor, Silva crack top 50 of ESPN's World Fame 100
Neither fighter has spent one second in the Octagon during 2017, but UFC stars Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are still rocking the charts.
In the second edition of ESPN's World Fame 100, a list ranking the global impact of athletes based on their endorsements, social media presence, and internet searches, Rousey came in at No. 16 while McGregor landed at No. 25. Joining the two headline-makers at No. 39 is Brazilian middleweight legend Anderson Silva.
After losing the women's bantamweight title to Holly Holm at UFC 193, Rousey only fought once in 2016. Her comeback attempt ended disastrously when she was knocked out in 48 seconds by current champion Amanda Nunes in December.
Rousey made a reported $3 million for that fight and also logged $8 million in endorsements last year, according to ESPN.
McGregor added the UFC lightweight title to his championship collection by defeating Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205, which happened to be the promotion's first-ever event at Madison Square Garden. "The Notorious" commands an impressive 11 million followers on Instagram and recently signed a sponsorship deal with Beats headphones.
As for Silva, while he only has one official win on his record since 2013, he's an icon in his home country and is still highly regarded by MMA fans for his 16-fight undefeated run from 2006-12, the longest win streak in UFC history.
At almost 8 million, "The Spider" has more Twitter followers than Rousey and McGregor combined.
- With h/t to Bloody Elbow