UFC fighters Ryan Bader, Jon Jones, Junior dos Santos, Vito Belfort and Stephan Bonnar join Dana White in a Playboy pictorial for its January 2011 issue.
Via Fight! Magazine:
The group took part in the “Stand Tough” fashion pictorial in which they modeled looks from Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger among others. Belfort will fight next at UFC 126 on Super Bowl weekend, where he will challenge Anderson Silva (#1 Middleweight) for the UFC Middleweight Championship. Bader and Jones will also meet on that card in a fight that will likely determine the number one challenger for the light heavyweight title.
Payout Perspective:
The pictorial is a great way to promote the big Super Bowl weekend card. With the exception of Bonnar, the choice of fighters make sense. The photospread is a good way for the UFC to market its fighters and for the fighters to market themselves as individuals. The photos appear to have them modeling designer brands. It gives the fighters an opportunity to do something different to promote themselves and expose (pun intended) themselves to a mainstream audience.
Of course, Arianny Celeste was featured in Playboy this past November. Forging a relationship with Playboy is a good way for the UFC to market itself to a huge younger, male demographic. I am sure we can expect more interviews and features with UFC fighters in Playboy.
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