Jon Jones is without question one of the fastest-rising stars in the UFC.
His meteoric rise to the top of the sport—many pundits, myself included, rank him as the second-best pound-for-pound fighter in the world—has been breathtaking. Two years ago, Jones was still a virtual unknown.
Now? He’s one of the most famous fighters in the world and is well on his way to becoming one of the greatest—if not the absolute greatest—fighters in the short history of mixed martial arts.
Comparisons to legendary boxer Muhammad Ali were inevitable. Both made their debuts at a young age. Ali remained undefeated for the first 11 years of his professional career before finally losing to Joe Frazier in the historic “Fight of the Century.” Jones has a loss on his record to Matt Hamill, but we all know that “Bones” is undefeated for all intents and purposes.
UFC Magazine acknowledges those links between Ali and Jones with the cover of their latest issue. It features Jones in a fighting pose underwater in a direct reference to Ali’s legendary Time Magazine photo from 1960.
Here’s the story behind the Ali photo, courtesy of the Michael Hoppen Gallery:
Schulke was assigned a story to photograph a young promising boxer who had just won gold at the Olympic games. His first photographs of Cassius Clay in his gym captured the confidence and charisma of this young man who would become Muhammad Ali, one of the most recognised faces in the world. Clay was desperate to be featured in LIFE magazine and after viewing some of Schulke’s underwater photography concocted the story that he trained underwater, fooling both Schulke and the editors at LIFE magazine. Schulke’s unforgettable images of Ali “training” underwater were run by LIFE magazine who would not have run the story without these iconic and inventive pictures.
In the above video, the UFC takes you behind the scenes for Jones’ version of the photo. It’s one of the best covers that UFC Magazine has featured to date.
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