Hello there lineal title fans! Tonight Jones will put 19 titles on the line in an attempt to add the lineal KSW Light Heavyweight strap to his collection. That title, of course, is currently held by the challenger, Glover Teixeira. The winner will secure 20 of 33 titles in the LHW division, good for 61% unification and 4th place on the lineal leaderboard (tied with Chris Weidman). Let's take a closer look at what's at stake and how the titles arrived at Bones and Glover.
Here is a quick reminder of my criteria:
1. In an effort to maintain the belts within the Light Heavyweight division, only bouts contested at the 205 lb limit will be considered
2. All titles trace back to the inaugural belt issued by the respective promotion
3. If a fighter retires with the belt or changes weight classes, a 2nd iteration of the title can be considered. These instances are noted below
Lineal Titles on the Line:
1. UFC
Title Lineage: Tito Ortiz => Randy Couture => Vitor Belfort => Randy Couture => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
2. Pancrase
Title Lineage: Sanae Kikuta => Yuki Kondo => Wanderlei Silva => Ricardo Arona => Shogun Rua => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
3. King of the Cage
Title Lineage: Vernon White => Jeremy Horn => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
4. MFC
Title Lineage: Victor Valimaki => David Heath => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
5. Gladiator Challenge
Title Lineage: Chael Sonnen => Jeremy Horn => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
6. Cage Warrior
Title Lineage: Michael Bisping => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
7. IFC (Original Tournament Belt)
Title Lineage: Babalu Sobral => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
8. Pride FC
Title Lineage: Wanderlei Silva => Ricardo Arona => Shogun Rua => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
9. WEC
Title Lineage: Jason Lambert => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
10. IFL
Title Lineage: Vladimir Matyushenko => Little Nog => Ryan Bader => Jon Jones
11. Cage Rage
Title Lineage: Mark Epstein => Micheal Bisping => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
12. TKO
Title Lineage: Jeremy Horn => Babalu Sobral => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
13. WFA
Title Lineage: Marvin Eastman => Vitor Belfort => Rand Couture => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
14. Rings
Title Lineage: Dan Henderson => Wanderlei Silva => Ricardo Arona => Shogun Rua => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
15. Ironheart Crown
Title Lineage: Jim Theobald => Little Nog => Vladimir Matyushenko => Little Nog => Ryan Bader => Jon Jones
16. World Vale Tudo
Title Lineage: Amar Suloev => Chuck Liddell => Randy Couture => Vitor Belfort => Randy Couture => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
17. Cage Fighting Championship
Title Lineage: James Te Huna => Alexander Gustafsson => Jon Jones
18. IVC
Title Lineage: Wanderlei Silva => Tito Ortiz => Randy Couture => Vitor Belfort => Randy Couture => Chuck Liddell => Rampage Jackson => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
19. Spirit MC
Title Lineage: Eun Soo Lee => Yoshihiro Nakao => Kaz Nakamura => Shogun Rua => Forrest Griffin => Rashad Evans => Lyoto Machida => Shogun Rua => Jon Jones
20. KSW
Title Lineage: Rameau Sokoudjou => Ryan Jimmo => Jame Te Huna => Glover Teixeira
Notes:
- UFC: Technically the 2nd iteration of the belt as Frank Shamrock moved to the MW division without ever losing the title
- Pancrase: 2nd iteration of the belt. 1st was never really contested at Light Heavyweight. Ignores a number of Heavyweight losses along the way in order to maintain the belt in the weight class
- KOTC: Ignores loss by inaugural champ Vernon White at Heavyweight to Allan Goes
- Gladiator Challenge: 2nd iteration of the belt. 1st champ Buck Greer never really competed at 205 lbs and belt dead ends at lower weight class. Lineage also ignores a number of Middleweight losses to maintain weight class
- WEC: 2nd iteration of the belt. Frank Shamrock vacated the original title and never competed at LHW again
- TKO: Traces back to the UCC before the name change to TKO
- Ironheart Crown: 2nd iteration of the belt. The 1st was never contested at 205 lbs
- World Vale Tudo: 2nd iteration of the belt. The 1st was never contested at 205 lbs
- Spirit MC: Title traces back to the 1st "Heavyweight" title won in a tournament at Spirit MC 1 by Eun Soo Lee in 2003. Although the belt is referred to as HW, it has been contested exclusively by fighters in the 205 lb division
- KSW: 2nd iteration of the belt. 1st champion Mamed Khalidov gave up the belt when he moved to MW
Lineal Title Leaderboard:
Those of you who follow these posts will notice something a little different about the leaderboard this time around. I've added a new Unification percentage in the far right column called "The Big 10." This is in response to some feedback that I have received in the comment section regarding the importance of certain titles compared to others. I agree that it is misleading to equate the UFC and Pride FC titles with Ironheart Crown and Shark Fight. For this reason, I have singled out what I'm calling "The Big 10" promotions and calculated the % of Unification for each fighter on the board.
Let the debate begin on the 10 promotions I've chosen to highlight :) UFC, Bellator MMA, Pancrase, Shooto, Deep, Pride FC, Strikeforce, WEC, Dream, EliteXC. If I had 11 spots, I would have included IFL.
It should also be noted that for some weight classes, it makes sense to include other promotions. For instance, the 125 lb weight class includes Tachi Palace in the "Big 10," because that was the home of the best Flyweights in the world before the UFC picked up the weight class. Lastly, not every promotion in the Big Ten issued belts at every single weight class. For instance, Pride never had a 170 lb title. In those cases, the percentages might look funny, but it's just because I am dividing by something other then 10.
# | Name | # of Titles | Unify | Big 10 |
1 | Anthony Pettis | 32 | 68% | 90% |
2 | Cain Velasquez | 31 | 79% | 82% |
3 | Georges St. Piere | 26 | 58% | 89% |
4 | Jon Jones | 20 | 58% | 57% |
4 | Chris Weidman | 20 | 50% | 50% |
5 | Jose Aldo | 13 | 39% | 57% |
6 | Ronda Rousey | 9 | 44% | 38% |
7 | Bibiano Fernandes | 6 | 21% | 25% |
7 | Vitor Belfort | 6 | 15% | 20% |
8 | Mighty Mouse | 5 | 33% | 60% |
8 | Dominick Cruz | 5 | 17% | 25% |
8 | Marlon Moraes | 5 | 17% | 25% |
8 | Pat Curran | 5 | 15% | 14% |
8 | Jacare Souza | 5 | 13% | 10% |
9 | Claudia Gadelha | 4 | 50% | 100% |
9 | Dustin Poirier | 4 | 12% | 29% |
9 | Gegard Mousasi | 4 | 12% | 14% |
9 | Alexis Davis | 4 | 22% | 13% |
9 | Georgi Karakhanyan | 4 | 12% | 0% |
10 | Michelle Waterson | 3 | 100% | 100% |
10 | Cyborg Justino | 3 | 75% | 67% |
10 | Rin Nakai | 3 | 17% | 25% |
10 | Emanuel Newton | 3 | 9% | 14% |
10 | Dong Hyun Kim | 3 | 7% | 0% |
* | Ten fighters tied with two each |
Upcoming Unification Bouts |
# |
Date |
Jon Jones vs Glover Texiera | 20 titles | 26-Apr |
Pat Curran vs Patricio Pitbull | 6 titles | 6-Jun |
Mighty Mouse vs Ali Bagautinov | 6 titles | 14-Jun |
Chris Weidman vs Lyoto Machida | 21 titles | 5-Jul |
Ronda Rousey vs Alexis Davis | 13 titles | 5-Jul |
Rousimar Palhares vs Jon Fitch | 2 titles | 5-Jul |
Other Titles on the Line | # | Date |
Phil Davis vs Anthony Johnson | 2 titles | 26-Apr |
Bibiano Fernandes vs Masakatsu Ueda | 6 titles | 2-May |
Anthony Birchak vs Kevin Croom | 1 title | 9-May |
Louis Smolka vs Chris Cariaso | 1 title | 10-May |
Matt Brown vs Erick Silva | 2 titles | 10-May |
Rin Nakai vs Sarah D'Alelio | 3 titles | 11-May |
Eddie Alvarez vs Michael Chandler | 1 title | 17-May |
Mamed Khalidov vs Maiquel Falcao | 1 title | 17-May |
Aslambek Saidov vs Borys Mankowski | 1 title | 17-May |
Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Jasminka Cive | 1 title | 17-May |
Renan Barao vs TJ Dillashaw | 1 title | 24-May |
Stipe Miocic vs Junior Dos Santos | 1 title | 24-May |
Chris Holdsworth vs Kyung Ho Kang | 1 title | 24-May |
Tim Radcliffe vs Stu Barrs | 1 title | 24-May |
Ben Askren vs Bakhtiyar Abbasov | 2 titles | 30-May |
Edimilson Souza vs Mark Eddiva | 1 title | 31-May |
Rustam Khabilov vs Benson Henderson | 1 title | 7-Jun |
Michinori Tanaka vs Roland Delorme | 1 title | 14-Jun |
Georgi Karakhanyan vs Rick Glenn | 4 titles | 21-Jun |
David Branch vs Jesse Taylor | 1 title | 21-Jun |
Anthony Hamilton vs Alexey Oleinik | 1 title | 28-Jun |
Carlos Diego Ferreira vs Colton Smith | 1 title | 28-Jun |
Antonio Braga Neto vs Clint Hester | 1 title | 28-Jun |
Justin Gaethje vs Nick Newell | 1 title | 5-Jul |
Aljamain Sterling vs Hugo Viana | 1 title | 16-Jul |