Hello there lineal title fans! This Saturday is another UFC PPV and it's not short on lineal title action. Jose Aldo has been the Lineal King of the Featherweight division for 5 years and 8 defenses, a reign only Fedor, Tara LaRosa, and GSP have bested in their respective weight classes. Since Aldo and Mendes last fought in 2012, Aldo has defended his titles 3 times and added 7 lineal titles to a collection which now totals 18 belts, good for 6th place on the Lineal Title Leaderboard. For his part, Mendes has gone 5-0 since their last meeting and captured the lineal Cage Fury Fighting title from Darren Elkins. Whomever wins this rematch will boast 19 lineal titles and 42% unification of all belts in the Featherweight division.

Before we dive into the details, here's a quick reminder of the rules that I follow when tracing these lineages:

Rules:

1. All titles trace back to the given promotion's inaugural championship, unless specifically noted

2. Only bouts contested within the weight class for which the belt was created are counted in the lineage. (See Rule 3 for exceptions)

3. WMMA belts will be allowed to "migrate" to different weight classes due to more frequent weight class changes by female fighters

4. If a title dead ends due to change of weight class or retirement, the next title issued by the promotion will be considered. I will refer to each issued title as an "iteration" of the belt (1st iteration, 2nd iterations, etc.)

5. No Contest rulings will always be respected (i.e. Diaz vs Gomi: Diaz tested positive for marijuana, so the fight does not effect the lineage)

6. TUF fights are exhibitions and will generally not count in the lineage of a title. TUF 20 for the Strawweight title may be an exception if it comes into play

Lineal Titles of Jose Aldo:

1. Shooto

Lineal History: Kenichi Tanaka (1990) → Hiroyuki Kanno → Kazuhiro Sakamoto → Noboru Asahi → Alexandre Nogueira → Tetsuo Katsuta → Alexandre Nogueira → Hiroyuki Abe → Alexandre Nogueira → Jose Aldo

• Lineage ignores Asahi's loss to Royler Gracie in VTJ at an Open weight. Also, Nogueira moved up to 154 lbs to compete in K-1 Hero's before dropping back down and losing to Jose Aldo in the WEC at FW

2. King of the Cage

Lineal History: David Velasquez (2000) → Charlie Valencia → Urijah Faber → Mike Thomas Brown → Jose Aldo

• Referred to as Bantamweight, but the limit is 145 lbs

3. Gladiator Challenge

Lineal History: David Velasquez (2002) → Urijah Faber→ Tyson Griffin → Bart Palaszewski → Hatsu Hioki → Ricardo Lamas → Jose Aldo

• Referred to as BW, but limit is 145. Tyson Griffin beat Faber for this title and then moved up to LW for most of his UFC run. He moved back down to FW for his last 2 UFC bouts and lost the belt to Bart Palszewski. It was technically a 148 lb catchweight, but was intended as a FW fight so I chose to allow it

4. IFC

Lineal History: Jens Pulver (2003) → Urijah Faber → Mike Thomas Brown → Jose Aldo

• Traces back to inaugural champion Jens Pulver from 2003 and ignores Pulver's losses at 155 until he returns to FW in the WEC

5. TKO

Lineal History: Stephane Vigneault (2004) → Mark Hominick → Hatsu Hioki → Antonio Carvalho → Hiroyuki Takaya → Leonard Garcia → Mike Thomas Brown → Jose Aldo

• Traces back to inaugural TKO Featherweight title. Fabiano held the UCC title from TKO 1 in 2000, but that was contested at 155

6. Shooto Americas

Lineal History: Jeff Curran (2005) → Hatsu Hioki → Antonio Carvalho → Hiroyuki Takaya → Leonard Garcia → Mike Thomas Brown → Jose Aldo

• The early Americas titles were awarded at various other promotion's events. This one traces back to inaugural title won by Jeff Curran in 2005 at an Ironheart Crown event

7. Deep

Lineal History: Masakazu Imanari (2005) → Fredson Paixao → Wagnney Fabiano → Mackens Semerzier → Deividas Taurosevicius → L.C. Davis → Josh Grispi → Dustin Poirier → Korean Zombie → Jose Aldo

8. Icon Sport

Lineal History: Ed Newalu (2005) → Brandon Visher → Tyler Toner → Diego Nunes → Kenny Florian → Jose Aldo

9. WEC

Lineal History: Urijah Faber (2006) → Mike Thomas Brown → Jose Aldo

• 2nd iteration, 1st champ was Cole Escovedo in 2002, but title dead ends where Melendez moves to LW

10. Pancrase

Lineal History: Yoshiro Maeda (2006)→ Joe Pearson → Urijah Faber→ Mike Thomas Brown → Jose Aldo

11. SportFight

Lineal History: Enoch Wilson (2006) → Urijah Faber → Mike Thomas Brown → Jose Aldo

12. IFL

Lineal History: Wagnney Fabiano (2007)→ Mackens Semerzier → Deividas Taurosevicius → L.C. Davis → Josh Grispi → Dustin Poirier → Korean Zombie → Jose Aldo

13. Shooto Pacific Rim

Lineal History: Akitoshi Tamura (2007) → Hideki Kadowaki → Takeshi Inoue → Hatsu Hioki → Ricardo Lamas → Jose Aldo

• 2nd iteration, 1st was won by Sato in 2005, but the belt dead ends when Gilbert Melendez moves up to LW

14. Cage Force

Lineal History: Yuji Hoshino (2008) → Marlon Sandro → Hatsu Hioki → Ricardo Lamas → Jose Aldo

15. Ring of Combat

Lineal History: Anthony Morrison (2009) → Mike Thomas Brown → Manny Gamburyan → Jose Aldo

• 2nd iteration. 1st version dead ends at Deividas Taurosevicius who may be retired

16. WVR - Sengoku

Lineal History: Masanori Kanehara (2009) → Marlon Sandro → Hatsu Hioki → Ricardo Lamas → Jose Aldo

17. UCMMA

Lineal History: David Lee (2010) → Jeff Lawson → Hatsu Hioki → Ricardo Lamas → Jose Aldo

• 2nd iteration, 1st dead ends at Pickett due to change in weight

18. UFC

Lineal History: Jose Aldo (2011: Last WEC Champion)

Lineal Titles of Chad Mendes:

19. Cage Fury Fighting

Lineal History: Joey Gambino (2011) → Steven Siler → Darren Elkins → Chad Mendes

Lineal History Lesson (Featherweight Edition):

NEW FEATURE! Featherweight Lineal Pie:

Big Ten Titles of the Featherweight Division:

Lineal Leaderboard:

Lineal Title Fights on the Horizon: