what is a lineal champion?
who are the "lineal champions" of mma?
thanks fight geeks
ttt
Something that will bring whistleblower out of exile.
(I hope)
Essentially a lineal champ is who beat who, regardless of the promotion. For example - Fighter A is the champ of the UFC, however he was beaten by Fighter C in another promotion, As long as Fighter C hasn't been beaten, then fighter C would be the lineal champ-or something like that
From a site that cares:
Pat Miletich was the first UFC Welterweight Champion, but he would have lost that title to Jutaro Nakao, had it been on the line at SuperBrawl 11.
This linear title would have then wound it's way through Tetsuji Kato, Hayato Sakurai, Anderson Silva, Daiju Takase, Rodrigo Gracie, finally reaching BJ Penn.
BJ Penn, of course, loses to Georges St. Pierre, who eventually unifies this linear title, with the UFC title.
However, some people like to consider the first welterweight world champion to be Matt Hughes after his defeat of Hayato Sakurai back at UFC 36. This title also goes to BJ Penn, and eventually back to Georges St. Pierre.
Either way you look at it, the linear title ends up in the hands of current UFC Champion, GSP.
It's like this.
You've got original champ. Who beat him? Regardless of weight class the fight was in. Who wins? Then who beats that guy? And that guy?
Maybe this will make it more clear...
If Bonnar somehow beats Silva BONNAR will be the lineal UFC/PRIDE MW champ..even though the fight took place at 205.
I charted out all the major titles a few years ago and posted them here under a different name.
But basically...lineal means...."the guy who beat the guy" all the way to today.
This is why Overeem is actually the current UFC 1 tournament champ, and the lineal UFC HW champ.
From Wikipedia
"In professional boxing, the lineal championship of a weight class is a notional world championship title. It is initially held at some moment in time by a boxer universally acclaimed as the best in the class. Another boxer can win the lineal championship only by defeating the reigning lineal champion in the ring. The lineal champion is described as "the man who beat the man".[1][2] There is no single canonical list of lineal champions at any weight class, because there is no agreed method of what to do when the current champion retires or moves to a different weight class."
Isn't it supposed to be linear? Or...?
A magical creature, like a unicorn that fights MMA.
lateral you mean?
These were posted on here a while back. I think it was on the underground news
DRevan - It's like this.
You've got original champ. Who beat him? Regardless of weight class the fight was in. Who wins? Then who beats that guy? And that guy?
Maybe this will make it more clear...
If Bonnar somehow beats Silva BONNAR will be the lineal UFC/PRIDE MW champ..even though the fight took place at 205.
I charted out all the major titles a few years ago and posted them here under a different name.
But basically...lineal means...."the guy who beat the guy" all the way to today.
This is why Overeem is actually the current UFC 1 tournament champ, and the lineal UFC HW champ.
thanks everyone
so the lineal champ starts from whomever is the original champion os whatever weight class in whatever org?
Sub
What happens if the linear champion retires?
MattyJ - What happens if the linear champion retires?
A new belt is created by having the the number 2 and number 3 guys fight (now ranked 1 and 2)
It's a bullshit term.
UGCTT Captain America -MattyJ - What happens if the linear champion retires?A new belt is created by having the the number 2 and number 3 guys fight (now ranked 1 and 2)
But what if Fedor had retired before his losses?, (he wasn't the UFC champion but if I remember correctly he was the linear champion). Then no one else could then be linear champion as it ended with Fedor.
Silly hypothetical situation I know.
It can also be used in boxing in terms of Sergio Martinez for example. They say he is the lineal champion because he never lost the belt he was holding. He was stripped of the title for not fighting the opponent they designated him to fight so they stripped him of the belt and in turn basically handed it to Chavez JR. Politics in boxing can really suck.
In Boxing the lineal champ traces back to the first champions crowned in year 1900 when the sport switched to the modern Queensbury rules from the bareknuckle rules of the 1800s, and whenever the in-between weight classes (Junior, Super) were created mid-century. Whoever beat the guy who beat the guy who beat the original champion, aka the true champion
- Juan Manuel Marquez was the Lineal Lightweight Champion until he vacated his LW titles to move up to Junior Welter earlier this year, so it is vacant now.
- Floyd Money Mayweather is the Lineal Welterweight Champ
- Sergio Maravilla Martinez is the Lineal Middleweight Champ (will be unifying with Chavez Jr.'s WBC Belt tomorrow night)
- Andre Ward is Super Middleweight Lineal Champion, the title went through the Super Six Tournament
- Chad Dawson is Light Heavy
- W. Klitschko is Heavyweight
The other weightclasses are vacant, due to previous champion retirement/vacation
In MMA the Lineal Titles mostly trace back to late 80s/early 90s Shooto and the early UFCs and WECs
- Flyweight traces to Shooto and Demetrious Johnson is the current champ from beating Ian McCall, will be unifying with UFC title against Benavidez at UFC 152
- Featherweight traces from WEC and leads to Jose Aldo
- Welterweight traces from Pat Miletich in UFC and leads to GSP
- Middleweight traces from UFC and PRIDE and leads to Anderson
- Lightheavy traces from Frank Shamrock through UFC and leads to jones
- Heavyweight goes from UFC 12 Heavyweight Championship winner Mark Coleman to PRIDE, to Fedor who held it for years, to Werdum, then Overeem who defended against Lesnar
- UFC 1 original Ultimate MMA champion/Openweight Champion leads from Royce Gracie to the same route - Fedor, Werdum, to Overeem.
Eventually the Lineal Heavyweight and Lineal Openweight titles will be unified with the UFC Heavyweight Championship when Overeem fights Dos Santos.
Bantamweight Champion is split between 2 lines -
1 - Shooto line which leads to Bellator, current holder is Marcos Galvao who recently defeated Travis Marx, who beat Shooto Champion Masakatsu Ueda earlier in the same Bellator tournament Galvao won. The title will be unified with Eduardo Dantas' Bellator championship when they fight.
2 - WEC/UFC line which starts with Eddie Wineland and goes through Chase Bebee, Miguel Angel Torres, Brian Bowles, and Dominick Cruz, who will unify his UFC Championship with Renan Barao's Interim belt.
So the official lineal bantamweight champion is vacant, split between the UFC and Bellator BW Champions. Neither one can truly be #1 unless one vacates and moves over one day
Lightweight is the most complicated one, with splits and twists and turns all over the place.
- The first line, 1990 Shooto, leads to Shinya Aoki who recently lost to Eddie Alvarez who will defend against Patricky Pitbull, and if he wins he will bring it to the UFC to eventually unify with the UFC Championship belt and UFC lineal line.
- The later line, early 2000s UFC, goes from Jens Pulver eventually to BJ Penn then Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.
BJ Penn and Duane Ludwig both holding the UFC lightweight lineal title and moving up in weight complicate things - does it stay with them or vacate?
Also PRIDE line Lineal Champion/Grand Prix Winner Takanori Gomi's loss to Nick Diaz - does it go to Diaz or does it stay with Gomi because the result was overturned due to Diaz's drug test failure?
I also remember hearing another line that leads to Shinya Aoki before he lost to Gilbert Melendez... so there could possibly be 3 champions right now.
Consider this one vacant like Bantamweight...
Finally, the World Strawweight (115lbs) Lineal Champion is current Shooto Champion, Mikihito Yamagami, who defends his title on the 30th.
When UFC eventually adds this weightclass, the Lineal Title will become vacant and split between 2 lines, unless they can sign the current Shooto champion to compete in a tournament the same way they did for the current Flyweight Championship.
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma.cfm?go=forum_framed.frame&thread=1292580&page=1
Without doing any research, I believe all UFC champs are the lineal champs, save for HW. Overeem is the Lineal HW champion (for beating Werdum, who beat Fedor)