Why can there be several world champions at once?
Some sports have several governing bodies, each recognizing its own champion. Unifying the belts takes a head-to-head contest.
In some sports, more than one organization sanctions title contests. Each keeps its own rankings and crowns its own champion. So several people can be called world champion in the same division at the same time.
How it happens
- Rival bodies form over disputes about rules, rankings or money.
- Each body orders its own mandatory challengers.
- Champions of different bodies may never meet, for business or scheduling reasons.
Unification
When two champions from different bodies face each other, the winner can hold both titles. A fighter or player who holds every major belt in a division is often called undisputed.
Sports that avoid this
Many sports have a single governing body and one championship event, so there is only ever one recognized title holder at a time. Tournament formats and season-long points races also tend to produce a single winner.
For the deeper history, read how title lineages work or what a lineal champion is.
How world titles are won, defended, lost and argued about