Kevin Randleman

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Kevin Randleman
Statistics
Nickname The Monster
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 205 lb (93 kg)
Born August 10, 1971 (1971-08-10) (age 36)
Town of birth Columbus, Ohio
Fighting style Wrestling
Mixed martial arts record
Wins 17
  By knockout 5
  By submission 4
Losses 12
Draws 0

Kevin "The Monster" Randleman (born August 10, 1971 in Sandusky, Ohio) is an American mixed martial arts fighter. Randleman's background is in Collegiate wrestling. Wrestling at 177 pounds, Randleman was a two time Division I NCAA Champion for The Ohio State University. Randleman is a former heavyweight champion of the UFC and last fought in PRIDE at heavyweight and light heavyweight. He is known for his athleticism and explosive power. He was previously associated with Mark Coleman's Team Hammer House, but most recently began training at Randy Couture's gym in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1] His professional MMA record is 17-12-0 as of May 21, 2008.

He holds notable wins over Maurice Smith, Pete Williams, Pedro Rizzo, Renato Sobral, Murilo Rua, and Mirko Filipović.


Contents

[edit] Fighting in Brazil

On October 22, 1996 at Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 4, his MMA career began with wins over Luiz Carlos Macial, Geza Kalman and Dan Bobish to win that event's tournament. On March 3, 1997 at Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 6, he beat Ebenezer Fontes Braga and Mario Neto, but was handed his first loss by Carlos Barreto. Randleman believes there were shady circumstances in his fight with Barreto as he fought two other Brazilians that night who dragged the matches out by escaping the ring and hitting him from outside of the ring. He also suspected they were using steroids and other performance enhancing drugs which he is very much against and has openly stated he detested.[2]

At the Brazil Open Fight event on June 15, 1997, he forced Homem de Neve to submit due to an elbow strike to the head, but lost his next fight to Tom Erikson by an uppercut KO that left him unconscious and required him to be stretchered from the cage. He has stated that it was hard to fight Erikson as they knew each other beforehand.

[edit] UFC

Randleman fought in the UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions at UFC 19, UFC 20, UFC 23, UFC 26, UFC 28, UFC 31, UFC 35. Beating Maurice Smith to become a top contender, he fought Bas Rutten for the Heavyweight title, previously vacated by Randy Couture. Randleman lost via a decision to Rutten, as while Randleman maintained positional superiority with takedowns, it was judged that Rutten was the more active fighter with strikes.

Randleman achieved his goal to become the UFC Heavyweight champion on November 19, 1999, beating Pete Williams at UFC 23 for the title (which was vacated upon Rutten's retirement), but later lost the title to Randy Couture at UFC 28. After losing the title, he moved down to light heavyweight, feeling it was a more natural weight for his body, but suffered a setback, losing to Chuck Liddell in his first fight at that weight before beating Renato "Babalu" Sobral in his final fight with the UFC.

[edit] PRIDE FC

In September 2002, Randleman made his debut in PRIDE, taking on Japanese wrestler Michiyoshi Ohara. Randleman acquired an easy victory, as Ohara appeared to have no intention of trying to fight Randleman right from the off-set, and even tried to flee and grab the ropes several times in an attempt to avoid damage from Randleman. This match was panned by the audience and Randleman himself, who left the ring before being awarded his trophy, visibly angry.

Throughout the course of 2002, Randleman gained victories over Kenichi Yamamoto ( TKO by vicious knee strikes) and Murilo "Ninja" Rua (TKO by cutting Rua with tremendeous counter left hook). This winning streak would eventually put him in the spot of contender for the PRIDE Middeweight (205lb) championship, held by Wanderlei Silva. At PRIDE 25 Randleman faced another Middleweight contender, fellow American wrestler Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, in a match that determined the number one contender for Silva’s belt. In the first round Randleman suffered his first loss in PRIDE, after a knee-uppercut combination from Jackson knocked Randleman down. The Referee stopped the fight after Rampage got dominant position and began landing strikes on Randleman.

Following a submission loss to Kazushi Sakuraba in 2003, Randleman became one of the sixteen participants in the PRIDE 2004 Heavyweight tournament, alongside teammate Mark Coleman. His first round match up at PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 was against former K-1 kickboxer Mirko Cro Cop Filipović, a participant heavily favored to win the entire tournament. Randleman knocked out "Cro Cop" by ground and pound following a left hook that surprised and knocked him down.

In the second round, at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004, Randleman faced off against the reigning Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. Again a heavy underdog, in a short bout he managed to suplex Fedor onto his head, landing in north south position. This maneuver failed to damage Fedor, who quickly capitalized on Randleman's characteristic failure to inflict damage upon opponents from a dominant position by reversing him and submitting him with a kimura, thereby eliminating him from the tournament. After the fight, Fedor said a few of his ribs were broken by Randleman's suplex.

With his tournament journey over, Randleman went on to square off against friend and fellow American wrestler Ron Waterman at PRIDE Final Conflict 2004, submitting to a keylock in the first round. Randleman picked up and slamed much bigger (6'2 and 280 pounds) Waterman, was ahead on scorecards but made one mistake and lost by Americana (Ude-garami). At PRIDE Shockwave 2004 Randleman offered a rematch to Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović. Filipovic submitted Randleman in the first round via guillotine choke, avenging his loss and adding another loss to Randleman’s losing streak in the process. In the opening round of PRIDE's 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, Kevin Randleman lost to Japanese Judoka Kazuhiro Nakamura via decision. In November of 2005, Randleman appeared in Bushido Europe-Rotterdam Rumble, Europe's first Bushido event, and defeated Fatih Kocamis via decision, ending his losing streak, and giving him his first win in nearly a year.

Randleman was taken ill with a serious fungal lung infection after his Rotterdam bout that had unknowingly been present for sometime.[3] He underwent a successful surgery to have the infection removed. After recovering, he was scheduled to fight against Vitor Belfort at a Strikeforce event in San Jose, California on June 9, 2006, but was unable to, due to a recurrence of the infection (Belfort instead fought, and lost to, Alistair Overeem, by unanimous decision).[citation needed]

Kevin Randleman returned to PRIDE FC for their first show on American soil, PRIDE 32: The Real Deal on October 21, 2006, where he was quickly submitted by a kneebar in the first round by 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. This match-up was made partly to capitalize on an incident where Mark Coleman fought Rua and broke his arm with a trip takedown. After the referee stopped the fight, a brawl ensued. Chute Boxe and Hammer House members then entered the ring, clashing verbally and physically, creating bad blood between the two teams.

[edit] World Victory Road: Sengoku

After 1 year and 7 months of lay off, kidney illness and terrible staph infection, Kevin came back with Unanimous Decision victory over Ryo Kawamura at May 18, 2008 in Sengoku 2.

Next Randleman's fight is scheduled on June 21, 2008 versus Jeff Monson.

[edit] Controversy, Illness and Suspension from fighting

After the bout with Rua, Randleman failed a drug test administered by the Nevada Athletic Commission. [4] Randleman submitted a urine sample lacking any hormones to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. This indicated that the sample was fake.[5] On January 19, 2007, Randleman was hospitalized due to serious damage to his kidneys.[6] In an interview with MMAWeekly, he stated he failed to submit a urine sample due to his use of painkillers and antibiotics after his previous surgeries that may have prevented him from being cleared to fight, and his current health issues were a result of the cumulative effects of his surgeries, medication and fighting on his body.

The Nevada Athletic Commission met on February 16, 2007 to discuss the fake sample and revoked Randleman's license to fight. He is able to reapply for a license after October 21, 2007, a year from the date of his loss to Mauricio Rua.[7]

[edit] DUI Arrest

On August 16, 2007, Randleman was arrested in Goodsprings, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, on a variety of charges, including drunk driving, following an apparent traffic stop.[8]

[edit] Professional wrestling career

Randleman has had several professional wrestling matches, his first in January 2004 for HUSTLE. In Japan, he is known as the "Fudge Brownie".[citation needed]

[edit] MMA record

17 wins (5 KO's, 4 submissions, 8 decisions), 12 losses (4 KO's, 6 submissions, 2 decisions), 0 draw.
Date Result Opponent Event Method Round, Time Notes
5/18/2008 Win Flag of Japan Ryo Kawamura Sengoku II Decision (Unanimous) Round 3, 5:00
10/21/2006 Loss Flag of Brazil Mauricio Rua PRIDE 32 Submission (Kneebar) Round 1, 2:35
10/9/2005 Win Flag of the Netherlands Fatih Kocamis Bushido Europe-Rotterdam Rumble Decision (Unanimous) Round 2
4/23/2005 Loss Flag of Japan Kazuhiro Nakamura PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 Decision (Unanimous) Round 3, 5:00
12/31/2004 Loss Flag of Croatia Mirko Filipović PRIDE Shockwave 2004 Submission (Guillotine Choke) Round 1, 0:42
8/15/2004 Loss Flag of the United States Ron Waterman PRIDE Final Conflict 2004 Submission (Keylock) Round 1, 7:44
6/20/2004 Loss Flag of Russia Fedor Emelianenko PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 Submission (kimura) Round 1, 1:33
4/25/2004 Win Flag of Croatia Mirko Filipović PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 KO (Punches) Round 1, 1:57
11/9/2003 Loss Flag of Japan Kazushi Sakuraba PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 Submission (Armbar) Round 3, 2:36
3/16/2003 Loss Flag of the United States Quinton Jackson PRIDE 25 TKO (Punches) Round 1, 6:58
12/23/2002 Win Flag of Brazil Murilo Rua PRIDE 24 TKO (Cut) Round 3, 0:20
11/24/2002 Win Flag of Japan Kenichi Yamamoto PRIDE 23 TKO (Knees) Round 3, 1:16
9/29/2002 Win Flag of Japan Michiyoshi Ohara PRIDE 22 Decision (Unanimous) Round 3, 5:00
7/13/2002 Win Flag of the United States Brian Foster RFC: The Beginning KO (Punch) Round 1, 0:20
1/11/2002 Win Flag of Brazil Renato Sobral UFC 35 Decision (Unanimous) Round 3, 5:00
5/4/2001 Loss Flag of the United States Chuck Liddell UFC 31 KO (Punches) Round 1, 1:18
11/17/2000 Loss Flag of the United States Randy Couture UFC 28 TKO (Strikes) Round 3, 4:13 Lost UFC Heavyweight title
6/9/2000 Win Flag of Brazil Pedro Rizzo UFC 26 Decision (Unanimous) Round 5, 5:00 Defends UFC Heavyweight title
11/19/1999 Win Flag of the United States Pete Williams UFC 23 Decision (Unanimous) Round 5, 5:00 Won vacant UFC Heavyweight title
5/7/1999 Loss Flag of the Netherlands Bas Rutten UFC 20 Decision (Split) Round 1, 21;00 For vacant UFC Heavyweight title
3/5/1999 Win Flag of the United States Maurice Smith UFC 19 Decision (Unanimous) Round 1, 15:00
6/15/1997 Loss Flag of the United States Tom Erikson Brazil Open-'97 KO (Punches) Round 1, 1:11
6/15/1997 Win Flag of Brazil Homem de Neve Brazil Open-'97 Submission (Elbow) Round 1, 2:21
3/3/1997 Loss Flag of Brazil Carlos Barreto Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 6 Technical Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 1, 22:24
3/3/1997 Win Flag of Brazil Mario Neto Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 6 Submission (Punches) Round 1, 11:24
3/3/1997 Win Flag of Brazil Ebenezer Fontes Braga Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 6 Decision Round 1, 20:00
10/22/1996 Win Flag of the United States Daniel Bobish Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 4 Submission (Punches) Round 1, 5:50
10/22/1996 Win Flag of Canada Geza Kalman Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 4 TKO (Punches) Round 1, 7:37
10/22/1996 Win Flag of Brazil Luiz Carlos Macial Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 4 Submission (Punches) Round 1, 5:14

[edit] Honors

[edit] Personal life

Kevin has a wife, Elizabeth, and two children, 18-year-old Calvin and 10 year-old Jasmine Capri.[9] His son Calvin Graduated from Huron High School, Helping lead the football team to the state regional finals. Calvin is currently playing football at the Ashland University.

[edit] References

[edit] External links


Previous champion
Bas Rutten
5th UFC Heavyweight Champion

November 14, 1999-November 17, 2000

Next champion
Randy Couture