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For the uninitiated Dave Menne was the 1st 185 champ. He could be considered a legend. He has wins over Carlos Newton, Pele, Lytle, and Dennis Hllman. He fought from LW - HW and won the UFC MW belt but most remember him for being the weakest MW champ ever. Yes even weaker than bisping. Fans from the early TUF era mainly remember him for his speed bag KO loss to "Da New York Bad Ass".
Interestingly enough he came back to the UFC in 2006 after a 5 yr hiatus. Must've been strange to be champ during the dark age then come back when it exploded.
Anyways he lost the belt to Murilo Bustamante (here forth referred to as Busta). Coincidentally they faced eachother again in their retirement match.
For those who don't know Busta was incredibly skilled. He had very good boxing and striking in general but his forte was BJJ. He was the BJJ coach for both Nogs, Arona, Machida, Silva, Palhares to name a few.
He went to toe to toe with Chuck and Rampage at LHW and subbed Matt Lindland 2x in the same match to defend the MW strap. He was THE MW to beat and undisputed best 185er.
CHAMP CONTRACTS
He then took his MW to Pride and paraded it around when announcing he signed with Pride. At the time Pride was poaching and/or beating all the best UFC fighters.
Dana & Co was pissed. After that UFC Contracts became super restrictive especially for champs. Before that fighters would bounce around all the time. So yea blame Busta for shitty UFC Contracts (still a fan though)
BACK TO "185":
When Busta left he spent the next 2yrs at LHW losing to Hendo (1st stoppage loss), Rampage and Nakamura of all people. It was clear he was better 1 division lower.
Pride then held the 183lb GP with the tournament winner earning that inaugural belt. As fate would have it Busta got to the finals to face none other than Hendo. The only guy to stop him. Since 183 and 185 are so close this was essentially a unification bout.
Bustamante had never lost in this division so he was the UFC Lineal 185 champ. This was like a 183/5 unification dream/super fight). The rematch was very close and many though Busta won (Decision Dan strikes again)
This was around the time Franklin was the official UFC MW champ and everyone would've loved to see Rish fight Hendo or Bustamante.
Hendo seemingly didn't care for the division or maybe it's cuz he had just beaten Misaki 1 bout prior but he dropped a decision (none title) to Misaki who was good but not a world beater.
Misaki (now UFC Lineal champ) goes on to lose to Paulo Filho who looked like the favorite to win the tournament but ended up getting injured so Misaki went on despite losing and beat Kang to win the GP.
But this meant Filho was Lineal champ. He went on to win the WEC belt. Essentially uniting the Lineal UFC belt with WEC belt.
In a very bizarre turn of events Filho loses his mind, the rematch and the belt to Chael Sonnen of all people.
At this point the Lineal UFC and WEC belts go hot potato from Sonnen>Maia>Marquardt>Sonnen... and finally gets united with the official belt Silva held, the rest is history
so this is the story of the UFC MW Lineal champ a d how it's tied to champ clauses.
Interestingly enough he came back to the UFC in 2006 after a 5 yr hiatus. Must've been strange to be champ during the dark age then come back when it exploded.
Anyways he lost the belt to Murilo Bustamante (here forth referred to as Busta). Coincidentally they faced eachother again in their retirement match.
For those who don't know Busta was incredibly skilled. He had very good boxing and striking in general but his forte was BJJ. He was the BJJ coach for both Nogs, Arona, Machida, Silva, Palhares to name a few.
He went to toe to toe with Chuck and Rampage at LHW and subbed Matt Lindland 2x in the same match to defend the MW strap. He was THE MW to beat and undisputed best 185er.
CHAMP CONTRACTS
He then took his MW to Pride and paraded it around when announcing he signed with Pride. At the time Pride was poaching and/or beating all the best UFC fighters.
Dana & Co was pissed. After that UFC Contracts became super restrictive especially for champs. Before that fighters would bounce around all the time. So yea blame Busta for shitty UFC Contracts (still a fan though)
BACK TO "185":
When Busta left he spent the next 2yrs at LHW losing to Hendo (1st stoppage loss), Rampage and Nakamura of all people. It was clear he was better 1 division lower.
Pride then held the 183lb GP with the tournament winner earning that inaugural belt. As fate would have it Busta got to the finals to face none other than Hendo. The only guy to stop him. Since 183 and 185 are so close this was essentially a unification bout.
Bustamante had never lost in this division so he was the UFC Lineal 185 champ. This was like a 183/5 unification dream/super fight). The rematch was very close and many though Busta won (Decision Dan strikes again)
This was around the time Franklin was the official UFC MW champ and everyone would've loved to see Rish fight Hendo or Bustamante.
Hendo seemingly didn't care for the division or maybe it's cuz he had just beaten Misaki 1 bout prior but he dropped a decision (none title) to Misaki who was good but not a world beater.
Misaki (now UFC Lineal champ) goes on to lose to Paulo Filho who looked like the favorite to win the tournament but ended up getting injured so Misaki went on despite losing and beat Kang to win the GP.
But this meant Filho was Lineal champ. He went on to win the WEC belt. Essentially uniting the Lineal UFC belt with WEC belt.
In a very bizarre turn of events Filho loses his mind, the rematch and the belt to Chael Sonnen of all people.
At this point the Lineal UFC and WEC belts go hot potato from Sonnen>Maia>Marquardt>Sonnen... and finally gets united with the official belt Silva held, the rest is history
so this is the story of the UFC MW Lineal champ a d how it's tied to champ clauses.
