Imagine a world where title belts and organizations didn’t exist in fighting. You win, you keep on winning and beat anyone in front of you, and after long enough you’re known as the best. To be the best, you have to beat the best. That’s the name of the game.
That’s essentially just the underground street fight world, isn’t it?
But in the sanctioned combat world, the label of pure “best” still does exist and does transcend any figurative monikers. That’s the beauty of being the lineal champion in mixed martial arts, even if that title may not come with a tangible golden strap.
To define and find the lineal champion of fighting, you have to go back to the very beginning and work your way forward. Who won the first fight? Who was the person who beat the last winner? And so on. There’s no being stripped of said title. It’s the forever belt, only exchanged through defeat.
Lineal titlists can be put in subcategories that belong to organizations, sure. That simplifies things a lot, but eventually, everything crosses over. Hence is the case with the heavyweight division, which has perhaps the truest lineal heritage of all.
Looking at Donn Davis’ favorite website Fight Matrix, men’s bantamweight, for example, has a questionable history starting from when it crossed over from Japan to the U.S. in the late ’90s. Twenty years later, Henry Cejudo added further asterisks with his retirement and whether or not you apply lineal titles to fighters by division or if they’re free-flowing. In the latter case, that means Aljamain Sterling claimed the lineal UFC bantamweight title from Cejudo, not Petr Yan.
Cejudo’s involvement can also be applied to flyweight since he ultimately came back for that Sterling bid, which means Sterling additionally won the lineal flyweight title in that fight.
These sorts of question marks apply to every division in MMA. Except for heavyweight.
Francis Ngannou is the undisputed lineal heavyweight champion at the time of this publishing. Even if you start with openweight at UFC 1, it doesn’t matter the path taken. You get the same result.
The beginning
Royce Gracie started it all.
UFC 1 was literally set to determine the best fighter, style-for-style, pound-for-pound, and kick off a lineal title lineage that defined who was No. 1 across the board. We all know the story 31 years later, so it doesn’t bear repeating, but Brazilian jiu-jitsu reigned supreme as the Gracie family legacy began to spread and flourish throughout the sport it helped create. It’s only fitting that it quickly became a full-fledged heavyweight title.
Gracie submitted three men in one night to shock the world at UFC 1 in 1993. Then he did it again at UFC 2. Then he did it one more time at UFC 4 for good measure.
It wasn’t until Gracie ventured to Japan to compete that he was dethroned of his lineal crown by “The Gracie Killer” himself, Kazushi Sakuraba in 2000. One fight later, the perpetually underrated Igor Vovchanchyn brought the lineal throne to heavyweight in PRIDE FC with his corner stoppage win over Sakuraba.
Coincidentally, the lineal openweight title was unified with the UFC heavyweight crown in Vovchanchyn’s next bout.
Mark Coleman built a bridge
While Gracie took the openweight title away from the UFC, Mark Coleman claimed heavyweight gold.
A lot was going on in the UFC as it started to move away from its one-night tournament foundation around 1997. MMA was also in the process of becoming a real sport with rules and legislation. There even used to be a physical, legitimate Superfight title, which Coleman unified with the inaugural UFC heavyweight title when he defeated Dan Severn at UFC 12 via first-round scarf hold.
This was the start of heavyweight’s lineal history specifically. The big men passed around the lineal UFC heavyweight title a few times between the likes of Maurice Smith, Randy Couture, Enson Inoue, Mark Kerr, and Kazuyuki Fujita, in that order. But then Coleman won it back from Fujita in the PRIDE 2000 Grand Prix and closed the loop by unifying it with MMA’s lineal openweight title against Vovchanchyn in the finals right after.
There just wasn’t anything quite like PRIDE.
The greatest streak in MMA history
If Coleman built the bridge, it quickly became Fedor Emelianenko’s to watch over.
PRIDE created a heavyweight title to add to the lineage list when it booked another iconic heavyweight, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, against Heath Herring in November 2001. Nogueira won the bout via unanimous decision directly after he took the lineal UFC title from Coleman two months earlier.
Coleman had defended his position once in PRIDE, kneeing Allan Goes into oblivion, but after “Big Nog” decided he was ready to reign, he did so with an iron fist and defended six times in succession.
Incredibly, Nogueira’s Bob Sapp matchup was arguably the wildest of the bunch. If you haven’t seen that fight, do yourself a favor once you’re done reading this.
Something special was happening at heavyweight in Japan. There have never been so many conflicting auras at one time as there were with the likes of Nogueira, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko.
But no one had as much aura as Emelianenko went on to have, beginning when the 12-1 Russian claimed the lineal title trifecta with his unanimous decision win over Nogueira in 2003.
A living legend, Emelianenko went unbeaten in 28 fights. Linearly, 18 were title defenses (with one no contest in the mix) since he unified the PRIDE, UFC, and openweight belts.
In the division with the smallest margin for error, Emelianenko dominated and won in incredible fashion time after time. What he did will never be replicated.
Werdum made the world stand still
I truly never thought Emelianenko was going to lose.
In 2010, I was still a budding MMA fan, absorbing as much of this absurd “sport” as possible. Despite that, I knew about Emelianenko’s legend and watched back as many of his fights as I could.
The first I watched live? Yeah. It was when the unthinkable happened. He lost.
MMA has provided countless jaw-dropping, mind-blowing moments over the years, and they’re always breathtaking no matter the situation. Seeing the arguably greatest fighter of all time pretty obviously baited into the human-mouse trap that was Werdum — in 69 f*cking seconds no less — will forever be indescribable.
Why, man? What happened? Werdum showed how damn good he also is, that’s what happened.
Emelianenko had brought the WAMMA title into the lineal title fold toward the end of his reign and departure from PRIDE. But against Werdum, Emelianenko gave up everything, losing by shocking first-round submission at a Strikeforce and M-1 Global co-promoted event.
Werdum went on to collide with Alistair Overeem, who had the Strikeforce and Dream heavyweight titles. Overeem unified all these championship labels with his infamously unforgettable unanimous decision nod over Werdum in their Strikeforce rematch.
Uber disappointment
The immediate integration of Strikeforce in the UFC was an insane time.
Believe it or not, the only time Brock Lesnar challenged for the lineal heavyweight title was when Overeem made his UFC debut in 2011. To go full circle with that moment, it was the real first “Battle of the Giants,” which we saw recently coined by PFL and Ngannou’s debut under its banner.
I mean, who can forget that UFC 141 poster with all of Lesnar and Overeem’s physical measurements? It was peak early 2010s MMA madness.
Unsurprisingly, “The Demolition Man” body kicked Lesnar like a sledgehammer through drywall to secure victory. He looked every bit as fierce as he had on his “Ubereem” stretch in Strikeforce and in Japan.
Overeem’s time as the official UFC champion felt like it was predestined. Then his fellow Strikeforce alum, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, said to hell with that in Overeem’s second octagon appearance.
The Dutch knockout artist was a “love him or hate him” fighter at his peak, and if you fell on the former side, his third-round knockout loss to Silva was an absolute heartbreaker. Overeem didn’t take the Brazilian giant seriously. If his words and approach didn’t display that in the fight’s build-up, his performance did when he casually played with his opponent to win the first two rounds.
But the sleeping giant awoke, unleashing his rage as soon as the final round started, silencing Overeem and screaming over him as Herb Dean used every fiber of his being to try and move the behemoth.
This was Silva’s “Werdum beats Emelianenko” moment. He was the new lineal king no one expected.
Ultimate upset artist
Werdum was on a two-fight winning streak when he upset Emelianenko. The Overeem loss was nothing more than a blip that put him on track toward a historic run.
Unfortunately for Silva, his time as heavyweight’s baddest man didn’t last thanks to Cain Velasquez. Once again, the AKA product proved to be Silva’s stylistic kryptonite, one of the worst matchups any human has ever been dealt. Their two fights almost felt like punishments in hindsight, regardless of how deserving Silva was.
Nonetheless, Velasquez became the lineal champion and Werdum rode a six-fight tear post-Overeem shortcoming when the two collided in 2015. The BJJ master had developed an equally dangerous striking game that made him a problem unlike anything seen in the division before, yet he still attracted doubt. Velasquez had been relatively inactive as the champion at this stage, dealing with injuries, so Werdum felt like the Tom Aspinall to today’s Jon Jones. That didn’t stop many of those who experienced prime Velasquez from believing in him.
Somewhat similar to Emelianenko, Werdum baited Velasquez into an eventual ill-advised grappling sequence at UFC 188. A double-leg takedown across the octagon led to Werdum latching on a guillotine instantly, smiling on his way down to the mat. The crafty devil did it again, and in Mexico no less.
A new legend is born
Werdum had proven to be at his all-around best and finally earned the respect of the world as someone worthy of his success, but the MMA gods have a wicked sense of humor.
Werdum’s first defense was a hostile affair for his challenger, held in the Arena da Baixada stadium in the champ’s native Brazil. Enter MMA’s favorite fighting fireman, Stipe Miocic, who couldn’t have given less of a damn about the environment when bidding for the ability to call himself the world’s baddest man.
Miocic frustrated the new champion early and essentially matadored his way to a victory, knocking out a bull-like Werdum off his back foot. As shocking as it was, it was possibly more confusing than anything. That just happened? Miocic had to verbally tell himself he was the champion in celebration.
The silence was deafening throughout the Curitiba audience. A new all-time great had entered the conversation and we didn’t yet know it.
All the belts
There have been a very select few of actual, true, by-the-book, definition superfights in MMA history. Fights where two bonafide legendary champions collide at the height of their powers, where they’ve defended successfully and run out of challengers. That’s what we’re talking about here.
After ruling light heavyweight to the best of his abilities, Daniel Cormier decided it was time to return home to heavyweight in 2018 once Miocic broke the official UFC title defense record at three. No more roadblocks, “DC” wanted what he originally set his sights on when his MMA pursuit began.
Cormier pulling off a win at UFC 226 shouldn’t have been shocking going in. But more than anything, it was the fashion with which the two-time Olympian captured his lineal title collection.
In one round, Cormier neglected his wrestling — and was actually the one taken down — before breaking out of a clinch and clipping the record-breaking Miocic on the chin for the knockout. “Danny Two Belts” was born. It was an epic and unexpected scene. These type of moments don’t come often, but when they do, we’re reminded of how special they can be.
Thankfully, those Lesnar-related post-fight shenanigans have forgotten with time. I apologize for the reminder.
Predator, not prey
Ngannou’s life story has been one of overcoming adversities to incredible degrees. That rings just as true for his career as an acclaimed fisticuffs duelist.
Today, in 2024, Miocic’s first reign feels like forever ago. He established himself as an all-time great at 2018’s start, after all. But Ngannou played a significant part in Miocic’s legacy. As one of the sport’s scariest title challengers regardless of weight class, Ngannou was set to try and dethrone Miocic and spoil his historic plans at UFC 220 in 2018. By smashing and bashing his way through the first round, Ngannou put it on the champion as everyone expected him to. The problem was that Miocic’s will to survive was otherworldly. He outlasted “The Predator,” and that was trouble for Cameroon’s finest.
The remainder of the fight saw a plodding giant outmatched by veteran savvy. A unanimous decision for Miocic and the first UFC loss for Ngannou.
But one staring contest with Derrick Lewis later, Ngannou went on a warpath. Decimations of Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, Curtis Blaydes, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik followed in a combined two minutes and 42 seconds. Ngannou earned his rematch with his old successor and the now two-time lineal champion Miocic in 2021. It was a different story this time, as Ngannou was prepared beyond expectations.
Miocic’s wrestling was no match thanks to Ngannou’s defensive adjustments. On the feet, Miocic suffered the same damage felt in their previous first round, then an early second-round bomb closed the show for the African. Ngannou was the guy and he’s been the guy ever since.
MMA’s unquestioned baddest man, with every lineal title imaginable to prove it.
It’s been a long and eventful road through heavyweight history. But in the end, they all lead to one place.
