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Recently I had too much time on my hands and attempted to trace the 170lbs MMA lineal title (generally called Welterweight).
My overall impression from doing this is that it gets messy really quickly for anything except openweight, as everything just converges to heavyweight unless you apply some criteria about what weight class bouts are valid in. But whatever, here we go.
General approach was:
- Shooto is the starting point for the title as it was the first identifiably MMA organisation (though if I knew more about early Vale Tudo I would consider that potentially worth examining as a starting point)
- The title can be won in bouts at 170lbs or at the nearest equivalent for the promotion (assuming the fighters are also credibly welterweights, i.e. could reasonably fight at that weight without dying of dehydration or crushing chocolate cake like that kid in Matilda)
- The title can be lost through a loss in a bout, a clear statement of retirement, or if the fighter vacated the title due to a definitive weight class change
The rules are a bit arbitrary but that was the best I could come up with to keep it interesting and credible
I think it goes something like this:
#1
Holder: Yasuto Sekishima
Date: 1990-05-12
Promotion: Shooto
www.sherdog.com
Can't finda photo of this guy or a video of the match.
Photo provided by Pankrat
Seems like he lost it via unanimous decision.
#2
Holder: Yoshimasa Ishikawa
Date: 1991-08-03
Promotion: Shooto
www.sherdog.com
Can't find a definite photo of this guy either (though there appears to be a karate shihan by than name mentioned on Facebook, looks about the right age).
The lineage gets messy right out of the gate here - he vacated the Shooto title because he moved weight class permanently, so it seems reasonable to strip him of the lineage at this point.
#3
Holder: Naoki Sakurada
Date: 1991-10-17
Promotion: Shooto
www.sherdog.com
This guy gets awarded the belt later that year. He then holds onto it until 1997 when he retires from MMA, forcing us to consider another messy transition.
Lineage off to a great start then.
#5
Holder: Hayato Sakurai
Date: 1998-05-13
Promotion: Shooto
www.sherdog.com
Over a year later, Sakurai wins the belt in a bout against Jutaro Nakao. This is where it starts to get more interesting, because he loses it to.....
#6
Holder: Anderson SIlva
Date: 2001-08-26
Promotion: Shooto
www.sherdog.com
The Spider appears here in his pre-UFC (pre-Pride, even). This is also where the lineage leaves Shooto, as Silva then moved to Pride before losing the lineage in 2003.
#7
Holder: Daiju Takase
Date: 2003-06-08
Promotion: Pride
www.sherdog.com
Takase submitted Silva for the first time ever in this bout. This is the point where we start to have videos of the bouts available online (Shooto videos can be hard to come by for some reason). Pride didn't have a 170lbs division at the time, this bout was fought at its nearest equivalent, Middleweight (183lbs).
I wasn't familiar with Takase's career, but he is probably most recognisable from being the other half of the Takase vs Yarbourough freakshow fight (), in which he fought at 169lbs vs the 600+lbs Yarbourough. Which is as good a WW credential as you can get really.
#8
Holder: Rodrigo Gracie
Date: 2003-10-05
Promotion: Pride
www.sherdog.com
A Gracie taking over the lineage at this point makes perfect sense when you realise that Pride Bushido 1 featured no less than 5 different fights with a Gracie in them, so they were bound to come away with something that night.
Rodrigo seems to have fought at a number of different weights, but he fought this at 178lbs. The bout is listed as 265lbs online, but as Takase was 181lbs I think it's fair to say this was at Pride's Middleweight class, which is the nearest equivalent to 170lbs. A bit messy again, but I've included it.
A familiar face then takes over the lineage...
#9
Holder: BJ Penn
Date: 2004-11-20
Promotion: Rumble on the Rocks
www.sherdog.com
This bout took place at Middleweight, it doesn't appear that ROTR had a WW class at that time. But as BJ is a former UFC WW champion I think this is a reasonable inclusion here.
From this point on, as with all MMA lineals, it gets assimilated by the UFC borg, never to emerge again.
#9
Holder: Georges Saint-Pierre
Date: 2006-03-04
Promotion: UFC
www.sherdog.com
It's worth noting here that BJ lost to Lyoto Machida prior to this, but that appears to have been at openweight (and Machida weighed in at 225lbs so calling it a WW bout is a bit of a stretch).
GSP's first appearance in this lineage is surprisingly brief given that he was potentially the GOAT welterweight. He held it for about 18 months until his loss to...
#10
Holder: Matt Serra
Date: 2007-08-25
Promotion: UFC
www.sherdog.com
This was a big upset at the time, and one of GSP's few losses. It has been noted that GSP lost to both Serra and Matt Hughes, but in both his rematches he absolutely wrecked them. This is important because Serra held the belt until his next bout with GSP, passing the title right back to him.
#10
Holder: Georges Saint-Pierre
Date: 2008-04-19
Promotion: UFC
www.sherdog.com
GSP shat all over Serra for 2 rounds this time, and reclaimed his spot in the lineage. After this point it gets messy again, as GSP held the title until 2013, after which he vacated the WW belt when he changed weight class, followed by his retirement. He fought again at middleweight in 2017, and then retired again in 2019. You could argue he technically held the lineage until 2019 but as he formally retired and then didn't fight at WW on his return, it seems reasonable to move the title on.
#11
Holder: Johny Hendricks
Date: 2014-03-15
Promotion: UFC
With GSP off doing TV shows about dinosaurs, Hendricks and Lawler slugged it out for the WW title. Hendricks held the title for a few months until his rematch with Lawler in December 2014.
#12
Holder: Robbie Lawler
Date: 2014-12-06
Promotion: UFC
www.sherdog.com
Struggled to find a full video of this one. Anyway, it stayed with Lawler for about 2 years until he faced Tyrone Woodley at UFC 201.
#13
Holder: Tyrone Woodley
Date: 2016-07-30
Promotion: UFC
www.sherdog.com
This was a weird bout where no one throws anything for the round and then suddenly Woodley KO's Lawler with one punch.
#14
Holder: Kamaru Usman
Date: 2020-05-30
Promotion: UFC
www.sherdog.com
www.youtube.com
Usman humped Woodley for 5 rounds and got a decision, not much to say here really.
#15
Holder: Leon Edwads
Date: 2022-08-20
Promotion: UFC
www.sherdog.com
www.youtube.com
At last we arrive at the current holder, who won it at the end of a long wrestle-humping bout with a beautiful headkick KO out of nowhere.
So the Shooto lineal 170lbs title rests with Leon Edwards. As with all (?) MMA lineals at present, it seems to be stuck in UFC for the foreseeable future, so here's hoping Rizin's organisers link up with some more deep-pocketed Yakuzas (allegedly) to attract a future holder over to Japan to add some variety to the lineage.
I have most likely got a lot of this wrong so I will now field questions, comments and general abuse about my choices and attention to detail. As I said previously, lineal only really works for openweight imo, it's kind of arbitrary when you include weight classes and other rules, but I enjoyed tracing through the history anyway.
Incidentally, I'd be interested to see if there's a candidate for a 170lbs lineage prior to Shooto (or if even an openweight lineage could be traced from Vale Tudo or the Tough Guy Contests or something).
My overall impression from doing this is that it gets messy really quickly for anything except openweight, as everything just converges to heavyweight unless you apply some criteria about what weight class bouts are valid in. But whatever, here we go.
General approach was:
- Shooto is the starting point for the title as it was the first identifiably MMA organisation (though if I knew more about early Vale Tudo I would consider that potentially worth examining as a starting point)
- The title can be won in bouts at 170lbs or at the nearest equivalent for the promotion (assuming the fighters are also credibly welterweights, i.e. could reasonably fight at that weight without dying of dehydration or crushing chocolate cake like that kid in Matilda)
- The title can be lost through a loss in a bout, a clear statement of retirement, or if the fighter vacated the title due to a definitive weight class change
The rules are a bit arbitrary but that was the best I could come up with to keep it interesting and credible
I think it goes something like this:
#1
Holder: Yasuto Sekishima
Date: 1990-05-12
Promotion: Shooto
Yasuto Sekishima MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography - Sherdog.com
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
Can't find
Photo provided by Pankrat
Seems like he lost it via unanimous decision.
#2
Holder: Yoshimasa Ishikawa
Date: 1991-08-03
Promotion: Shooto
Yoshimasa Ishikawa MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography - Sherdog.com
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
Can't find a definite photo of this guy either (though there appears to be a karate shihan by than name mentioned on Facebook, looks about the right age).
The lineage gets messy right out of the gate here - he vacated the Shooto title because he moved weight class permanently, so it seems reasonable to strip him of the lineage at this point.
#3
Holder: Naoki Sakurada
Date: 1991-10-17
Promotion: Shooto
Naoki
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
This guy gets awarded the belt later that year. He then holds onto it until 1997 when he retires from MMA, forcing us to consider another messy transition.
Lineage off to a great start then.
#5
Holder: Hayato Sakurai
Date: 1998-05-13
Promotion: Shooto
Hayato
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
Over a year later, Sakurai wins the belt in a bout against Jutaro Nakao. This is where it starts to get more interesting, because he loses it to.....
#6
Holder: Anderson SIlva
Date: 2001-08-26
Promotion: Shooto
Anderson
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
The Spider appears here in his pre-UFC (pre-Pride, even). This is also where the lineage leaves Shooto, as Silva then moved to Pride before losing the lineage in 2003.
#7
Holder: Daiju Takase
Date: 2003-06-08
Promotion: Pride
Daiju Takase MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography - Sherdog.com
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
Takase submitted Silva for the first time ever in this bout. This is the point where we start to have videos of the bouts available online (Shooto videos can be hard to come by for some reason). Pride didn't have a 170lbs division at the time, this bout was fought at its nearest equivalent, Middleweight (183lbs).
I wasn't familiar with Takase's career, but he is probably most recognisable from being the other half of the Takase vs Yarbourough freakshow fight (), in which he fought at 169lbs vs the 600+lbs Yarbourough. Which is as good a WW credential as you can get really.
#8
Holder: Rodrigo Gracie
Date: 2003-10-05
Promotion: Pride
Rodrigo Gracie MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography - Sherdog.com
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
A Gracie taking over the lineage at this point makes perfect sense when you realise that Pride Bushido 1 featured no less than 5 different fights with a Gracie in them, so they were bound to come away with something that night.
Rodrigo seems to have fought at a number of different weights, but he fought this at 178lbs. The bout is listed as 265lbs online, but as Takase was 181lbs I think it's fair to say this was at Pride's Middleweight class, which is the nearest equivalent to 170lbs. A bit messy again, but I've included it.
A familiar face then takes over the lineage...
#9
Holder: BJ Penn
Date: 2004-11-20
Promotion: Rumble on the Rocks
B.J.
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
This bout took place at Middleweight, it doesn't appear that ROTR had a WW class at that time. But as BJ is a former UFC WW champion I think this is a reasonable inclusion here.
From this point on, as with all MMA lineals, it gets assimilated by the UFC borg, never to emerge again.
#9
Holder: Georges Saint-Pierre
Date: 2006-03-04
Promotion: UFC
Georges
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
It's worth noting here that BJ lost to Lyoto Machida prior to this, but that appears to have been at openweight (and Machida weighed in at 225lbs so calling it a WW bout is a bit of a stretch).
GSP's first appearance in this lineage is surprisingly brief given that he was potentially the GOAT welterweight. He held it for about 18 months until his loss to...
#10
Holder: Matt Serra
Date: 2007-08-25
Promotion: UFC
Matt
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
This was a big upset at the time, and one of GSP's few losses. It has been noted that GSP lost to both Serra and Matt Hughes, but in both his rematches he absolutely wrecked them. This is important because Serra held the belt until his next bout with GSP, passing the title right back to him.
#10
Holder: Georges Saint-Pierre
Date: 2008-04-19
Promotion: UFC
Georges
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
GSP shat all over Serra for 2 rounds this time, and reclaimed his spot in the lineage. After this point it gets messy again, as GSP held the title until 2013, after which he vacated the WW belt when he changed weight class, followed by his retirement. He fought again at middleweight in 2017, and then retired again in 2019. You could argue he technically held the lineage until 2019 but as he formally retired and then didn't fight at WW on his return, it seems reasonable to move the title on.
#11
Holder: Johny Hendricks
Date: 2014-03-15
Promotion: UFC
With GSP off doing TV shows about dinosaurs, Hendricks and Lawler slugged it out for the WW title. Hendricks held the title for a few months until his rematch with Lawler in December 2014.
#12
Holder: Robbie Lawler
Date: 2014-12-06
Promotion: UFC
Robbie
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
Struggled to find a full video of this one. Anyway, it stayed with Lawler for about 2 years until he faced Tyrone Woodley at UFC 201.
#13
Holder: Tyrone Woodley
Date: 2016-07-30
Promotion: UFC
Tyron
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
This was a weird bout where no one throws anything for the round and then suddenly Woodley KO's Lawler with one punch.
#14
Holder: Kamaru Usman
Date: 2020-05-30
Promotion: UFC
Kamaru
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
Kamaru Usman vs Tyron Woodley UFC 235 FULL FIGHT Champions
Kamaru Usman vs Tyron Woodley UFC 235 FULL FIGHT Champions
www.youtube.com
Usman humped Woodley for 5 rounds and got a decision, not much to say here really.
#15
Holder: Leon Edwads
Date: 2022-08-20
Promotion: UFC
Leon
The industry pioneer in UFC, Bellator and all things MMA (aka Ultimate Fighting). MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997.
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www.youtube.com
At last we arrive at the current holder, who won it at the end of a long wrestle-humping bout with a beautiful headkick KO out of nowhere.
So the Shooto lineal 170lbs title rests with Leon Edwards. As with all (?) MMA lineals at present, it seems to be stuck in UFC for the foreseeable future, so here's hoping Rizin's organisers link up with some more deep-pocketed Yakuzas (allegedly) to attract a future holder over to Japan to add some variety to the lineage.
I have most likely got a lot of this wrong so I will now field questions, comments and general abuse about my choices and attention to detail. As I said previously, lineal only really works for openweight imo, it's kind of arbitrary when you include weight classes and other rules, but I enjoyed tracing through the history anyway.
Incidentally, I'd be interested to see if there's a candidate for a 170lbs lineage prior to Shooto (or if even an openweight lineage could be traced from Vale Tudo or the Tough Guy Contests or something).
Last edited:
