Those of you that follow my rankings may be wondering how i decided on the WORLD CHAMPIONS.
They are linear titles that were decided based on the opponents that were beaten. For example...
WHY MARK COLEMAN?
When Mark Coleman beat Dan Severn(at UFC 12), he had already won 2 tournaments and defeated 2 time tournament winner(and UFC 10 finalist), Don Frye. Dan Severn had defeated SF champion Ken Shamrock and tourny winner Oleg Taktarov. Since the only other big HW tourny winner in the world was Ricardo Morais(who Coleman beat later anyways), the obvious choice for a title fight was when Coleman fought Severn.
WHY TITO ORTIZ?
When Tito Ortiz beat Silva, Silva was already a huge winner at the IVC. He had also defeated every other top 'middleweight' that Ortiz hadn't. Since Frank Shamrock was "retired" and Sakuraba wasn't really beating the top ten(at the time), the obvious choice for a title fight was Tito-VS-Silva.
WHY MATT HUGHES?
When Hughes beat Sakurai, Mach had already proven himself as a champion at that weight(Yes, he lost to A.Silva but A.Silva subsequently lost to Takase who then lost to Sakurai anyways). Hughes had beaten his share of top fighters and took out Newton(twice), who had beaten the former UFC champ in Miletich. Miletich had lost by sub to Nakao but Sakurai had beaten Nakao before. This was the obvious choice for a title fight.
WHY JENS PULVER?
When Pulver beat Uno, Uno was the reigning SHOOTO champ at that weight. Pulver had also proven himself at that weight and was fighting for the UFC title.
Again, the obvious choice.
WHY...?
Ricardo Nogeira, Ryota Matsune and Mamoru Yamaguchi are all the recognized champions of their weight classes by reason of merit. Just look at their records! Besides, there are no other champions(at those weights), that even come close.
In the following post will be the title history of each weight class, so you can see how the linear title has changed hands...
******************************************
WORLD TITLE HISTORY
*******************
SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT
*****************
(NO HISTORY)
HEAVYWEIGHT
***********
Mark Coleman defeated Dan Severn by Submission(Side Choke), at UFC 12,
FEB 7th, 1997 to become the first World Heavyweight Champion.
Maurice Smith defeated Mark Coleman by Unanimous Decision, at UFC 14,
JUL 27th, 1997 to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
Randy Couture defeated Maurice Smith by Majority Decision, at UFC Japan
1, DEC 21st, 1997 to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
Enson Inoue defeated Randy Couture by Submission(Arm Bar), at Vale Tudo
Japan 98, OCT 28th 1998 to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
Mark Kerr defeated Enson Inoue by Decision, at Pride: Grand Prix 2000,
JAN 30th, 2000 to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
Kazuyuki Fujita defeated Mark Kerr by Unanimous Decision, at Pride:
Grand Prix 2000, MAY 1st, 2000 to become the new World Heavyweight
Champion.
Mark Coleman defeated Kazuyuki Fujita by TKO (Corner Threw in the Towel
due to a Knee Injury), at Pride: Grand Prix 2000, MAY 1st, 2000 to
become the first TWO-TIME World Heavyweight Champion.
Antonio Nogueira defeated Mark Coleman by Submission(Triangle-Arm Bar),
at Pride 16, SEP 24th, 2001 to become the new World Heavyweight
Champion.
Fedor Emelianenko defeated Antonio Nogueira by Unanimous Decision, at
Pride 25, MAR 16th, 2003 to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
****************
Tito Ortiz defeated Wanderlei Silva by Unanimous Decision, at UFC 25,
APR 14th, 2000 to become the first World Light Heavyweight Champion.
Randy Couture defeated Tito Ortiz by Unaimous Decision, at UFC 44,
SEP 26th, 2003 to become the new World Light Heavyweight Champion.
Vitor Belfort defeated Randy Couture by TKO(Doctor Stoppage from an
Eye Abrasion), at UFC 46, JAN 31st, 2004 to become the new World Light
Heavyweight Champion.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
************
(NO HISTORY)
WELTERWEIGHT
************
Matt Hughes defeated Hayato Sakurai by TKO (Referee Stoppage), at
UFC 36, MAR 22nd, 2002 to become the first World Welterweight Champion.
BJ Penn defeated Matt Hughes by Submission(Rear Naked Choke), at
UFC 46, JAN 31st, 2003 to become the new World Welterweight Champion.
LIGHTWEIGHT
***********
Jens Pulver defeated Caol Uno by Majority Decision, at UFC 30,
FEB 23rd, 2001 to become the first World Lightweight Champion.
Duane Ludwig defeated Jens Pulver by KO(Punch), at UCC 12, JAN 25th,
2003 to become the new World Lightweight Champion.
FEATHERWEIGHT
*************
Alexandre Nogueira is the recognized World Champion.
BANTAMWEIGHT
************
Ryota Matsune is the recognized World Champion.
FLYWEIGHT
*********
Mamoru Yamaguchi is the recognized World Champion.
I've been following the sport since 1993.
Frank and Sak were both natural middelweights(under 185lbs.), and Sak wasn't fighting the top fighters when i made Tito champ.
Besides, the UFC had established a LHW division and Pride did not.
anyone who doesnt know this is just a forum troll
Ken was the first single fight HW champ, beating Severn, Severn beat him to become champ, then they changed the name.
at any rate, i'm sure most would agree that Coleman was the best at the time he beat Severn
yes but he still lost to Tito
You put Silva and Tito in a cage with no time limit and no rules, Tito leaves in a bodybag 100% of the time.
ok sandman, set that up.
back to reality, tito had beaten silva when they did fight. could he do it again? in the UFC, i think so. in pride, its a tossup.
with knees on the ground Tito has actually better chance in PRide.
Anyway you leave out a bunch of organizations like shotoo and Pancrase.
They have titles too.
And how come no history for middle weight.
What about Bustamante?
lol @ thesandman
The UFC should have just given the belt to Tito and saved us the pain of watching him hold down a far superior fighter for 25 minutes.
With stand-ups like the crowd and fans deserve? Silva every time!
"Anyway you leave out a bunch of organizations like shotoo and Pancrase.
They have titles too."
uh...if you look at my rankings again you'll see that i list the champions of the UFC, PRIDE, SHOOTO and PANCRASE.
how you never noticed is beyond me
"And how come no history for middle weight. What about Bustamante?"
being a UFC champion does not automatically qualify a guy as a WORLD CHAMPION.
if Busta had beaten Sak then i may have considered it...now, Suda also has to be in the mix
for some reason that made no sense
sour grapes
i wasn't confused at all...you just don't make sense
i already knew that...and it's really a mute point since the "middleweight" division at that time was not the middleweight division of today.
the only fact i care about is that both Tito and Silva were LHW's(185-205lbs), when they fought.
but thanks for reminding me of those 'not-so-important' facts.
i meant they were LHW's according to the current standard...dumb@$$
can't you find another hobby or something?
"Ricardo Nogeira, Ryota Matsune and Mamoru Yamaguchi are all the recognized champions of their weight classes by reason of merit. Just look at their records! Besides, there are no other champions(at those weights), that even come close."
Mamoru lost to Robson Moura not too long ago. Moura then lost to Urushitani in a close fight. Urushitani then lost to Mamoru in a close fight. That division is in a complete clusterfuck, even though Mamoru officially holds the title. IMO, Shooto put together a title fight too soon.
Under the rules of this thread, there should be no official world champion at flyweight. When Mamoru vs. Urushitani took place, it was #3 (Mamoru) vs. #1 (Urushitani). The #2 fighter, Robson Moura, fought on the undercard (and won).
Now, Mamoru is #1 and Moura is #2. They should fight soon. When they do, then there will be an official world champ.
Also, for bantamweight (featherweight in Shooto), I'd say Mamoru was the first champion. Shooto built up that division for a very long time, and when they finally held a title fight, it was a legit #1 (Mamoru) vs. a legit #2 (Akimoto). Mamoru won. He later lost to Oishi, and then Oishi lost to Matsune.
RyanG, i thought SHOOTO already had Mamoru as flyweight champ!?
i was positive he was listed in their rankings as champion...and i have stayed on top of the results as close as possible...i know the division is a mess but no one has been as consistant as Mamoru(IMO).
not only that but he is fighting successfully at bantamweight too
i agree with you on that last part too but i hadnt recognized a legit world champ until Matsune was champion
your logic makes sense though and thanks for the info...again(as always)
Mamoru is the Shooto bantamweight champion (flyweight by "world rankings"). The Shooto flyweight division (I guess that would be minimumweight in the world rankings?) isn't even a year old yet, and only has like 5 or 6 fighters.
I wouldn't consider Mamoru to be the official world champ in that division right now (based on the logic of this thread), for the reasons I explained above. To crown a world champion in a vacant division, #1 vs. #2 must be the match to decide it. Right? In Mamoru/Urushitani, that was not the case.
In Mamoru/Akimoto 2, that was the case.