Glory 20 puts the spotlight on lineal kickboxing titles in lower weight classes

Fraser here, welcoming you to the latest installment in our ongoing series documenting the lineal title history in kickboxing. Thanks for reading – we hope you enjoy the series, and that you tune in to Spike Friday night for Glory 20 and a ton of lineal title action. Take it away Matt!

Hello there lineal title fans! We are back for another thrilling installment of Kickboxing Lineal Titles throughout history. Our goal with this continuing series is to use detailed research of past titles as a way to appreciate the true greats throughout the history of the sport we love. Often times, the business side of sports can get in the way of the competition side that we enjoy as fans. Lineal titles are one way to appreciate the sport in its purest form and recognize the fighters who truly deserve to be hailed as champions for their accomplishments in the ring. Plus, it gives us something to geek out over in anticipation of the big event!

With Glory 20 just around the corner, there couldn’t be a better time to put the spotlight on the lighter weight classes. In the main event, Robin van Roosmalen will put 11 lineal titles on the line against former lineal king Andy Ristie. If you have been following our previous installments, you know that we have highlighted the storied 70 kg kickboxing division once before. Today, we will build on what we have already presented by adding a few new titles to the mix, which were uncovered through the diligent, obsessive, unhealthy(?) efforts of one Fraser Coffeen.

But, wait….there’s more! Next, we will be showcasing a weight class which we have yet to cover, the Featherweights! At Glory 20, Gabriel Varga and Mosab Amrani will compete for the right to be recognized as Glory’s inaugural 65 kg champion, in the process creating a new slice of the lineal title pie at Featherweight.

Unlike Mixed Martial Arts, where a set of unified rules determines an agreed upon weight limit for each class, kickboxing has traditionally created titles under various weight limits. For the purposes of our research, we have grouped these titles under the category of Featherweight. The belts range in weight from 67 kg down to 60 kg or about 147 lbs down to about 132 lbs.

But, before we dive into the gory details, lets take a quick look at the rules that Fraser and I follow while tracing the lineages of these kickboxing titles…

Rules:

1. All lineal titles will begin with the inaugural champion crowned by a given promotion. The title will change hands only with a loss by the champion regardless of what promotion the fight takes place in. In a phrase, a lineal champion is “the man who beat the man.”

2. Unlike MMA lineal titles, weight class will not be a factor in tracking the lineage of Kickboxing titles. For this reason, some titles that started off as Featherweight belts, for instance, are now Lightweight belts because of champions who compete across weight classes.

3. The spirit behind this collection of titles is to appreciate the history of K-1 rules / Oriental Kicking style titles. However, all fights that would traditionally be considered on a kickboxing record will be included in the lineage. This means that even Muay Thai rules and Shoot Boxing rules fights will be recognized.

The Lineal Kickboxing Dashboard:

Above is a quick snapshot view of all the promotions that we have research thus far. We can also see how many champions exist in each division and the progress that has been made thus far in the quest for total unification of all titles in the respective weight classes.

You’ll notice that Robin van Roosmalen is the current Lineal King of the Lightweight division while Tetsuya Yamato sits on the lineal throne at Featherweight. Here’s a more graphical view of each division:

As you can see above, the Featherweight pie does not yet include the Glory title.

Let’s begin by looking at the 70 kg titles we’ve added since our last installment.

Additional Titles held by Enriko Kehl (Currently Holds 3 Total):

Additional Titles Held by Lineal King Robin van Roosmalen (Currently Holds 11 Total):

For more detail on the 70 kg division, including retired lineal titles and All-Time career stats, check out our previous lineal title post. As a reminder, here’s the full list of titles up Robin van Roosmalen’s possession, and the titles up for grabs in his Glory 20 fight with Andy Ristie:

1. K-1 World Max Grand Prix 2009
2. K-1 World Max Grand Prix 2010
3. K-1 World Max Grand Prix 2012
4. Glory Lightweight 70 kg Tournament Title
5. Glory Lightweight 70 kg World Title
6. It’s Showtime 70 kg Tournament Title
7. It’s Showtime 65 kg World Title
8. S-Cup 70 kg Tournament 2008
9. NJKF Super WW 70 kg World Title
10. Krush 70 kg World Title
11. SuperKombat MW 72 kg World Title

Lineal Titles of the Featherweight Division:

From a lineal title perspective, the featherweight division has historically been dominated by Japanese fighters. On Friday, at Glory 20, a Canadian and a Dutch-Moroccan will attempt to buck that trend and claim their slice of the lineal title pie. The current lineal king of the division, Tetsuya Yamato, most recently competed at Lion Fight 21 this past Friday. If you missed the fight, you have our permission to cease reading immediately so that you may find yourself some footage. Yamato sliced his way to a TKO finish with his trademark elbows (from all kinds of crazy angles).

The Lineal Titles of Featherweight King Tetsuya Yamato (Currenlty Holds 6 Total):

The Lineal Titles of Minoru Kimura:

The Remaining Lineal Titles of the Featherweight Division (4 Total):

Now that we’ve presented all of the active Featherweight titles in detail, here is a look at some summary statistics and leaderboards in this exciting division.

Lineal History Lesson: Featherweight Edition

We can see above that Yamato won all of his titles with a single victory over Masaaki Noiri, a multi-time lineal king himself. Yuto Kubo is perhaps the most interesting fighter on this list given that he turned 3 titles into 6 and peaked at 80% unification of all lineal titles in 2011.

Titles Added Over Time:

2015 has started off with a bang adding 3 new titles in as many months.

All-time Featherweight Leaderboard

The title of lineal king has been passed around by this group of fighters over time, many of whom are still top fighters today. It would be great to see more of them in Glory to match up with the winner of Friday’s contest. Interesting to note that no fighter has had a better than 50% winning percentage against the other champions in the division.

Closing Thoughts:

We really hope you enjoyed this latest installment of Kickboxing Lineal Titles throughout history. Fraser and I will continue to scour the inter-tubes for more lineal title goodness to send your way in the future. One of the biggest takeaways is that the Featherweight division is extremely competitive and is full of talent that could easily compete at the top levels of Glory’s division.

It’ll also be really interesting to see who comes out on top as Lineal King of the Lightweight divsion when van Roosmalen rematches with Ristie. The 70 kg division is really strong right now so that crown could be passed around quite a bit over the next few years. I’m still holding out for the true champ to return to reclaim his thrown. I speak of course of all-time great Giorgio Petrosyan. As luck would have it, he is currently scheduled to face Enriko Kehl on April 11 at Oktagon 2015: 20 years edition in Milan, Italy. It’ll be Petrosyan’s chance to claim a piece of the lineal pie on his home turf and set up a potential unification match with the winner at Glory 20. Can’t Wait!