Jon Jones has already gained the attention of the entire sports world with his seemingly inhuman level of MMA greatness, and he continues to turn heads towards his sport.
That success has already brought endorsements from companies once thought to be above MMA; Nike and Gatorade. It also got him on the cover of the next UFC video game, whose publisher once dismissed MMA‘s status as a sport, according to UFC President Dana White.
Now, according to AskMen, it has made him one of the greatest men of 2013. You can check out their full list (and you totally should) right here.
Jones sits at No. 26 on the list that rates men in fields that include sports, religion, technology, politics, pop culture and more. Jones finds himself sitting between Apple Senior VP of Design Jonathan Ive (who spearheaded development of the iPod, iPhone and iPad) and the surprisingly progressive Pope Francis (who has made waves with his statements on the Catholic Church’s stances on social issues).
The list is highly exclusive, though, and Jones finds himself ranking among major players on the world’s stage, such as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (No. 31), United States President Barack Obama (No. 17), Russian leader Vladimir Putin (No. 11) and South African civil rights pioneer Nelson Mandela (No. 5).
Looking strictly in terms of sports, Jones finds himself ranked above the likes of former WWE star Dwayne Johnson (no. 45), New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (no. 44) and Tennis great Andy Murray (No. 32), among others. Remarkably, he finds himself behind only top boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (No. 24), transcendent basketball star LeBron James (No. 21), NFL poster boy Peyton Manning (No. 9) and openly-gay NBA free agent Jason Collins (No. 2).
The list is topped by genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, and CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk.
Obviously, these lists always come with something of an asterisk (obviously Obama and Putin command far more sway over the world than Jimmy Fallon and Drake). Still, seeing a mixed martial artist being realistically pegged as the fifth-most influential figure in sports is something that seemed impossible even a year ago.
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