The lineal title can only be won one way - by beating the man across from you. Fedor Emelianenko won the title in 2004 and defended it 10 times in six years before losing to Fabricio Werdum last year in Strikeforce.
The UFC has a heavyweight champion. Strikeforce has a heavyweight champion. But only one can claim to be the true lineal king of the division. The MMA Encyclopedia author Jonathan Snowden is tracking the history of heavyweight gold for Bloody Elbow.
The true championship of mixed martial arts doesn't get vacated and isn't limited by promotional or national boundaries. Yesterday Jonathan Snowden explained how MMA's most prestigious title made its way to Japan. Today we'll explore what happened once it got there.
