What exactly is a "paper champion" and some notable examples?

[Barteh]

Yeah some people say Jones is paper champ and Francis is lineal and true champ
Lets say that is true. But for how long will Francis be the true champ? What if he never fights in the UFC again? Are all future UFC HW's paper champs

Nah not all future UFC champs will be paper champ. The winner of Pavlovich vs. Aspinall will be a legit champ. If a miracle were to happen and Jones were to defend against Pavlovich I'd consider him a very legit HW champ too.

 

[gentel]

Paper champ factors:

• Won the vacant title against an opponent who wasn't best or tied for best contender in the division (Glover vs Jamahal)
• Won the title fight via judging/reffing mistake (debatably DQ as well) (Jones vs Reyes)
• Had favorable matchmaking on the way to the title (Alex Pereira not having to face Whittaker, Dricus, Cannonier, Khamzat, etc)
• Defending against cherry-picked opponents (O'Malley defending against Chito rather than Merab)

 

[bongwater]

islam, dc, gps, fedor and kabob

 

[HOLA]

Some people threw it out against Takanori Gomi in 2006. He won the Pride LW grand prix by knocking out Sakurai, and won the Pride LW belt. He got subbed in his next fight against Marcus Aurelio, but it was a non-title bout, so he was still the champ. He did rematch him later in the year in a title fight, and won by split decision, however.

 

[Mammothman]

Aljamain Sterling, Michael Bisping, Eddie Alvarez

 

[Brampton_Boy]

Aljamain Sterling, Michael Bisping, Eddie Alvarez

Why was Eddie Alvarez a paper champion?

RDA beat Pettis, and Alvarez beat RDA. The LW crown wasn't disputed at the time.

 

[Barteh]

Some people threw it out against Takanori Gomi in 2006. He won the Pride LW grand prix by knocking out Sakurai, and won the Pride LW belt. He got subbed in his next fight against Marcus Aurelio, but it was a non-title bout, so he was still the champ. He did rematch him later in the year in a title fight, and won by split decision, however.

Well that's a prime example of a paper champ. One who lost his last fight in the same weight class.

 

[DecisionSplit]

Jan was barely a top 10 LHW in Jones's generation if that.

He beat Reyes who arguably beat Jones. If Reyes got the decision he would have been 13-0 when he faced Jan. And Jan would be lineal champion. I don't really put stock in the horrendous judging and UFC corruption when assessing anyone's careers.

If you believe Reyes won I guess Jan would have the lineage.

75% of people on MMADecisions have Reyes winning despite him having zero fanbase as well. Who other than delusional Jones sycophants actually think that Jones was even close to winning that fight? He got beaten for three straight rounds and then Reyes coasted the last two. Should have been 48-47 to anyone scoring it easily. Judges then give Jon multiple 10-9s in the first three rounds despite almost nobody thinking that he won anything in rounds 1-3.

 

[Mammothman]

Why was Eddie Alvarez a paper champion?

RDA beat Pettis, and Alvarez beat RDA. The LW crown wasn't disputed at the time.

Very lucky in his decisions, beat the worst RDA ever, got punked by Cowboy Cerrone not long ago, didn't fought Tony/Khabib, looked like a can in his first title defense against a non ranked LW.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

no pure definition but basically just a champ that isn't the best fighter in the division. Either they get a fight for the vacant title, get fast tracked to the title, title challenger pulls out and they get to step in.

couple examples are

Michael Bisping: Got his title shot because Weidman pulled out and caught a cocky Rockhold with a clean punch to the chin and then nearly lost to 46 year old Dan Henderson in his first title defense.

Eddie Alvarez: Got a title shot by winning 2 split decisions and won the belt by catching RDA with a good bunch and then just swinging constantly for the standing tko

 

[dog y]

Then ducked the entire top 15 fighters in his division to defend against Henderson. Then ducked them all again, including interim champ Whittaker to fight GSP. He was a cardboard champ.

Bisping had an easy schedule forever. And made a lot of money for each bout.

 

[dog y]

Surprised nobody mentioned losing a non title fight making for a paper champ.

In pride Gomi, Wanderlei and Henderson all list non title fights and retained their belts at their own weight class. All great fighters but they sure felt like paper champs to me until they got their redemption

Well... what, we'd have Mark Hunt as Pride MW champ?

 

[legcramp]

DC and funny enough Jones.

 

[Odoylerules4lyf]

Well... what, we'd have Mark Hunt as Pride MW champ?

No, that was at a different weight class so losing it wouldn't make Wanderlei a paper champ. Now losing to Arona on the other hand...

 

[Onidemon84]

I always considered Vitor's "reign" that of a paper champion. He didn't beat Randy, and subsequently got owned in the rematch.

To Vitor's credit though, he was not the least bit jovial when he "won" against Randy

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

I’ve always felt that a paper champion is a derogatory way to say an interim champ (guy who never beat the actual champ to get the title)…

Like Noguiera beating Sylvia to win the heavyweight title, instead of beating Couture, the actual title holder at the time, so it was a paper championship…

I would also consider Gaethje winning a title by beating Ferguson instead of Nurmagomedov would also be an example of winning a paper championship…

At least that’s what I’ve always thought.

 

[StonedLemur]

Bisping.

How, when he knocked out the champ?

 

[StonedLemur]

Then ducked the entire top 15 fighters in his division to defend against Henderson. Then ducked them all again, including interim champ Whittaker to fight GSP. He was a cardboard champ.

Fair enough sir.
I think the Hendo thing was his last chance at revenge for one of the worst KOs in history.
Fighting GSP was his last chance to make money, but your definitely in to something.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Sure winning a vacant belt is a definition some people use.

You want to be the man, you got to beat the man.

But at the same time a champ can't just retire and reign forever. Otherwise Bobby Fischer would currently be the 50x running world chess champion and he's been dead for a while and didn't play in a top tournament since the 1970s.

I still think Fischer is the greatest player of all time, even ahead of Magnus, due to his sheer creativity. What a fascinating mind. Kasparov's book analyzing his life and games is one of the best reads on Bobby if you're a chess nerd.

 

[BROWNPRIDE]

Hill