The Oldest Lineal Belt (Sept 8, 1990)

[NHB7]

Before UFC, before Pancrase, there was Shooto. In 1990 Shooto started creating belts. The first belt they created was May 12, 1990, but the lineal reign of that belt ended when Yuichi Wantanabe (whom was the last to have it [at least lineally]) retired in 1992.

But the next belt Shooto created was Sept. 8, 1990 and here is it's lineal journey to the present:

Sept. 8 1990 Kenichi Tanaka

Mar. 29, 1991 Hiroyuki Kanna (defended 1x)

Oct. 17, 1991 Kazuhiro Sakamoto

Mar. 27 1992 Noboru Asahi (defended 12x)

Jul. 7, 1996 Royler Gracie (defended 1x)

Nov. 21, 1999 Kazushi Sakuraba (defended 2x)

May 1, 2000 Igor Vovchanchyn (shortest reign…lost it later that same day)

May 1, 2000 Mark Coleman (Defended 1x, merged it with the Pride 2000 Grand Prix Trophy)

Sept. 24, 2001 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Defended 6x, merged with Pride HW belt)

Mar. 16, 2003 Fedor Emelianenko (Defended 19x, Merged it with Pride 2004 Grand
Prix Trophy, WAMMA HW belt)

June 26, 2010 Fabricio Werdum

June 18, 2011 Alistair Overeem (Defended 1x)

Feb 2, 2013 Antonio Silva

May 25, 2013 Cain Velasquez (defended 1x, merged with UFC HW belt, merged with Saku Belt [may have merged with the Saku Belt earlier])

June 13, 2015 Fabricio Werdum

 

[NHB7]

Some interesting things to note, this belt has been fused with:

Pride 2000 OWGP Trophy, Pride 2004 Grand Prixe Trophy, Pride HW belt, WAMMA HW belt, UFC HW Belt and the Saku Belt.

Other than Fedor, Noboru Asahi (a sadly mostly forgotten but once great fighter) defended it the most times with 12 defenses.

The absolute shortest reign was Igor Vovchanchyn whom won it from Sakuraba and then lost it to Coleman later that same day.

Werdum is the only fighter so far to hold it twice.

If Fedor fights Werdum, it will merge with the Super Hluk belt.

 

[PgKarate]

Interesting. Nice thread.

 

[SavageAngel]

Yeah! I did a thread once of all the old major belt in the lineal champion way. I remmebered that Shooto was in the late eighties, some time before pancrase and UFC. Nice one man!

 

[Sunni and Shia]

Thread needs more Ronda, would not read again...

Anyone know if the shooto events are available to view online? I remember finding a couple hl vids maybe in 2002 or so but they looked like they were filtered through hot trash water.

 

[Patof]

Nice, I like tracking lineal belts. Some say the dont mean anything but I think its just a fun historical thing.

 

[NHB7]

Nice, I like tracking lineal belts. Some say the dont mean anything but I think its just a fun historical thing.

I think tracking them every so often is a fun way to reminisce through the history of the sport. Kind of like taking a tour of MMA through time.

 

[NHB7]

Yeah! I did a thread once of all the old major belt in the lineal champion way. I remmebered that Shooto was in the late eighties, some time before pancrase and UFC. Nice one man!

May have been the thread I read on here a long time ago that got me addicted to tracking lineal belts.

Also a fun little fact. If you follow the UFC Superfight Championship belt or the HW belt lineally, it actually leaves the UFC for a long time (When Randy briefly left the UFC to fight for RINGS). It doesn't return to UFC until Overeem enters the UFC. And it doesn't merge with it's own rendition of the HW belt until Cain beat Antonio Silva.

 

[Tooth and Nail]

Almost all the old belts ended up getting unified with the current UFC HW title in one way or the other.

 

[NHB7]

Almost all the old belts ended up getting unified with the current UFC HW title in one way or the other.

Yeah, it is an interesting phenomenon. Kind of like a vacuum. Now the Fedor is back, it is just a matter of time before the Super Hluk belt gets there and well...maybe the end of MMA.

 

[The Bard]

Awesome thread, but

Spoiler

could Ronda beat a man?

I wonder if there is some traditional martial arts belt(s) that fused with these too? Or amateur wrestling? Would be interesting to expand it that way.

 

[ALAN PARTRIDGE]

kinda funny having Bigfoot in the list, but I get it

 

[Chomsky Honk]

Thats awesome thanks for posting

 

[sabretitan]

That was a good read. Thanks TS!

 

[Dreaming Dead]

Wow. 1990.

How was Shooto back in the 90's? Were ground striker allowed? Sorry, I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to older promotions.

 

[NHB7]

Wow. 1990.

How was Shooto back in the 90's? Were ground striker allowed? Sorry, I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to older promotions.

It's okay, I'm not that knowledgeable either. Anyway, I've watched a few old Shooto fights and the one takeaway is I was suprised at how modern the fights seemed. I mean, if you watched one you would see nearly all the elements of modern MMA (decent striking, decent grappling, okay wrestling)....well rounded fighters. Sure there was some stuff that looked clumsy, but considering this truly was the very beginning of the modern era of the sport, it was decent. And the reason I find it suprising is, I would say the level of competition and well roundedness in Shooto in 1990 was better than UFC in 1992. I think UFC didn't catch up for probably 3 - 4 years after it started.

 

[NHB7]

Awesome thread, but

Spoiler

could Ronda beat a man?

I wonder if there is some traditional martial arts belt(s) that fused with these too? Or amateur wrestling? Would be interesting to expand it that way.

Doing a woman's lineal belt could interesting too. I mean we talk about women's MMA being so new, but Smack Girl was around at least since 2000. So we are 15 years in at the least.


and in fact, I've found female fights as old as 1996 (Yoko Takahasi for example).

 

[ThunderL1ps]

You forgot the WWWF World Martial Arts belt that was given to Mark Coleman from Antonio Inoki after his defeat of Alan Goes. That was the title presented to him some time after his match with Muhhamed Ali in their mixed fight match (circa 1976).

 

[BisexualMMA]

I think tracking them every so often is a fun way to reminisce through the history of the sport. Kind of like taking a tour of MMA through time.

It would make for a cool exhibit if they ever do make a brick and mortal Hall of Fame.

 

[NHB7]

You forgot the WWWF World Martial Arts belt that was given to Mark Coleman from Antonio Inoki after his defeat of Alan Goes. That was the title presented to him some time after his match with Muhhamed Ali in their mixed fight match (circa 1976).

That is awesome!