UFC 1

I got bored and decided I wanted to find out who the lineal UFC 1 Champion would be. I went back to Royce Gracie’s victory at UFC 1 and followed the lineage from there, following the rule of “to be the man, you gotta beat the man.” Note that he would also be the UFC 2 and 4 Lineal Champions, as Royce won all 3 with no losses in between.

1. Royce Gracie submits Gerard Gordeau with a rear-naked choke at UFC 1 finals on November 12, 1993.

2. Kazushi Sakuraba beats Royce Gracie by TKO/Corner Stoppage at PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Openweight Quarterfinals on May 1, 2000.

3. Igor Vovchancyn beats Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO/Corner Stoppage at PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Openweight Semifinals on May 1, 2000.

4. Mark Coleman submits Igor Vovchancyn with knee strikes at PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals on May 1, 2000.

5. Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira submits Mark Coleman with a triangle armbar at PRIDE 16 on September 24, 2001.

6. Fedor Emilianenko wins a unanimous decision over Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira at PRIDE 25 on March 16, 2003.

7. Fabricio Werdum submits Fedor Emilianenko with a triangle armbar at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum on June 26, 2010

8. Alistair Overeem wins a unanimous decision over Fabricio Werdum at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on June 18, 2011.

9. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva knocks out Alistair Overeem at UFC 156 on February 2, 2013.

10. Cain Velasquez knocks out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 160 on May 25, 2013.

11. Fabricio Werdum submits Cain Velasquez with a guillotine choke at UFC 188 on June 13, 2015.

12. Stipe Miocic knocks out Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198 on May 14, 2016.

Interesting notes:

• The UFC 1 Lineal Championship has traveled through UFC, PRIDE, and Strikeforce.

• Fedor Emilianenko has the most defenses, at 20, including 1 no contest. He has also held the title for the longest, at 7 years, 3 months, 10 days.

• Royce Gracie held the title the second longest, at 6 years, 5 months, 19 days.

• Kazushi Sakuraba and Igor Vovchancyn are effectively tied for the shortest reign, both gaining and losing the title on the same day.

• Fabrico Werdum is the only person to hold the title twice.

• The UFC 1 Lineal Championship has been continuously unified with the UFC Heavyweight Championship since Cain Velasquez’s victory over Bigfoot at UFC 160.

TL;DR – Stipe Miocic is the UFC 1 Lineal Champion

Addendum: Some people have proposed that Royce pulling out of UFC 3 should count as a forfeit. Generally lineal titles are not lost if there is not a fight, but since UFC 3 is a tournament format, I was curious to what would happen if we counted that as a loss, so:

UFC 1 Lineal Championship Darkest Timeline

1. Royce Gracie submits Gerard Gordeau with a rear-naked choke at UFC 1 finals on November 12, 1993.

2. Royce Gracie forfeits to Harold Howard at UFC 3 on September 9, 1994.

3. Steve Jennum submits Harold Howard with strikes at UFC 3 on September 9, 1994.

4. Steve Jennum forfeits during UFC 4, and Royce wins the tournament on December 16, 1994.

At this point the titles are reunited.

I saw this in the Sherdog forums and thought you guys might like to take part in the discussion.

A couple of my choices:

• Ryan Hall: if Royce had good enough BJJ to sub his way through the tournament, Ryan would tap these guys before they knew they were in a fight and then do his weird shrug after.

• Aldo: Just to see if he could do it, and I think he could. I’m going for the Aldo that fought Faber here, I want to see some low kick porn

• Shane Carwin: Part of the explosion of BJJ popularity was this unknown, normal-looking dude beating absolute monsters. What do contemporary martial arts look like if the monster wins?

• Nate Diaz: It just seems like the kind of thing he’d like to do.

We all know the story by now with UFC 1. Royce Gracie showed us that cracking arms and crushing windpipes was a legitimate strategy in a real fight. With his victory he laid the foundation for American MMA and what would become the biggest MMA organization on the planet. Royce was a great champion, but Father Time is undefeated (though word is that Father Time has been ducking USADA for years). This lead to other men picking up the mantle of the UFC 1 Lineal Championship, what follows is a current look at the lineage and how it might come to an end sooner than you think.

First a look at the list of UFC 1 Lineal Champions:

1. Royce Gracie submits Gerard Gordeau with a rear-naked choke at UFC 1 finals on November 12, 1993.

2. Kazushi Sakuraba beats Royce Gracie by TKO/Corner Stoppage at PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Openweight Quarterfinals on May 1, 2000.

3. Igor Vovchancyn beats Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO/Corner Stoppage at PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Openweight Semifinals on May 1, 2000.

4. Mark Coleman submits Igor Vovchancyn with knee strikes at PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals on May 1, 2000.

5. Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira submits Mark Coleman with a triangle armbar at PRIDE 16 on September 24, 2001.

6. Fedor Emilianenko wins a unanimous decision over Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira at PRIDE 25 on March 16, 2003.

7. Fabricio Werdum submits Fedor Emilianenko with a triangle armbar at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum on June 26, 2010

8. Alistair Overeem wins a unanimous decision over Fabricio Werdum at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on June 18, 2011.

9. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva knocks out Alistair Overeem at UFC 156 on February 2, 2013.

10. Cain Velasquez knocks out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 160 on May 25, 2013.

11. Fabricio Werdum submits Cain Velasquez with a guillotine choke at UFC 188 on June 13, 2015.

12. Stipe Miocic knocks out Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198 on May 14, 2016.

13. Daniel Cormier knocks out Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 on July 7, 2018.

This means that the current UFC 1 Lineal Champion is the Daddest Man on Earth, Daniel Cormier. DC is a bad dude and I think that we can all agree that he deserves this mantle. Word on the street is that DC is planning on retiring after defending the heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar. If this were to happen then the UFC 1 Lineal Championship will end with Daniel Cormier and he shall reign eternal. Should Brock win....well....shit.

Excluding time travelers and other BJJ guys, who in 1993 could've beaten Royce and gotten through the bracket fighting guys like Gerard Gordeau or Ken Shamrock?

Let's say we give our last minute entry the Art Jimmerson slot, and he somehow passed himself off as just a boxer to Rorion and Art Davie