(Jones’s epic walk-off-sub of Lyoto Machida at UFC 140, 12/10/11.)
Newly christened as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones turns 26 years old today. Over on the recently re-designed CombatLifestyle.com, our pal Tracy Lee has posted a gallery of her best Bones-pics in a birthday tribute gallery which you can check out here. We’ve posted a few of our favorites below. Send Jones some birthday love on Twitter @jonnybones, and watch his transformation from flab to fab when he defends his belt against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165, September 21st in Toronto.
(The Azerbaijani judge gives this celebration a 7.6.)
(Jones warms-up with Mark Coleman before UFC 100, 7/11/09. It was Jones’s third UFC appearance and first finish — a guillotine choke submission of Jake O’Brien on the prelims.)
(The real star of this photo is John Danaher’s comb-over.)
(Jones knuckles up with Cheick Kongo during his first trip to the Octagon at UFC 87, 8/9/08.)
(Come on, Jonny…hasn’t he suffered enough?)
(Showing no regard for Machida’s elusiveness at UFC 140.)
(Jones hangin’ loose with Mike Goldberg...)
(…and with his brother/arch-rival Arthur Jones, back in March 2010.)
(Jones and Carlos Condit endure a savage photobombing after UFC 162 earlier this month. GET OUT OF THE FRAME, STEVEN.)
(And finally, Jon Jones with the photographer, Ms. Tracy Lee, 10/6/11.)