Kevin Christopher Randleman (August 10, 1971 – February 11, 2016) was an American mixed martial artist, amateur and professional wrestler, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randleman's background was in collegiate wrestling, in which he became a two-time NCAA Division I and a three-time Big Ten wrestling champion out of Ohio State University. Randleman competed in the heavyweight and light heavyweight classes in MMA. In addition to competing in the UFC, Randleman also fought for other organizations such as PRIDE, WVR, and Strikeforce. He was previously associated with Mark Coleman's Team Hammer House, before training at Randy Couture's gym in Las Vegas, Nevada. On May 16, 2020, the UFC announced that Randleman would be inducted into the pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame. Randleman is the first fighter to be posthumously inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Randleman was born in Sandusky, Ohio, and was one of eleven children. He had a humble upbringing and often engaged in street fights during childhood. Randleman attended Sandusky High School, started all four years on the football team, ran track in which he qualified for the state finals, and had a 122–11 record while on the wrestling team, including winning the state championship in 1989. Randleman then went to wrestle for Ohio State University. His redshirt freshman year he had a string of 42 victories and a first-place finish in the Big Ten Tournament, earned All-American status, and dominated in the NCAA tournament, before losing in the tournament final to Mark Reiland of Iowa. Randleman then went undefeated during his sophomore year, and won the NCAA tournament. Randleman again won the NCAA tournament in his junior year, despite having his jaw dislocated during the actual tournament. His final collegiate wrestling record was 108 wins and 7 losses, with 28 pins. Despite having some of the most successful three years in the history of collegiate wrestling, including compiling the third best winning percentage in Ohio State wrestling history, Randleman became ineligible to wrestle in his senior year because of academic issues. After leaving Ohio State, Randleman attended Lindenwood University. However in 2002 Randleman was nominated as the Ohio State University Wrestler of the Century.
Kevin supported the United States Army troops whenever he could. While in Iraq in 2008, Kevin traveled with other UFC fighters to visit the troops at the 4th Infantry Division's Modern Army Combatives tournament at Camp Liberty. He quickly got down on the mats and gave an important ground demonstration. Kevin eagerly posed for pictures and signed autographs for anyone who asked.
Randleman entered mixed martial arts in 1996 when Mark Coleman, one of Randleman's coaches at Ohio State, offered him a spot in the Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 4 in Brazil. Randleman accepted and joined Coleman in what would be known as Team Hammer House.
Cornered by Coleman, Randleman made his debut on October 22, 1996 at Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 4 against Luiz Carlos Maciel, stopping him with punches in five minutes. He advanced to the next round to meet Canadian fighter Geza Kalman, who outweighed him by 40 pounds, and defeated him the same way in only 2 minutes more. Randleman reached the finals, where he encountered Dan Severn's trainee Dan Bobish. The latter controlled the first minutes from the clinch, attempting neck cranks and landing several punches, but Randleman skillfully escaped. The two then exchanged hard strikes, with Bobish getting the better of it, but Randleman scored a takedown and mounted him, from where he landed several strikes for the tournament win.
In March 1997, Randleman returned to the promotion for UVF 6, in finding a difficult opponent in the first round in luta livre veteran Ebenezer Fontes Braga. The American controlled the takedowns, but the Brazilian defended solidly with strikes both standing and from his guard every time, with Randleman attempting to sneak in ground and pound through the latter. The bout soon turned controversial, however, as Braga would end up exiting the ring beneath the ropes several times, at some points even being externally helped by his team. Later in the bout, Braga scored several kicks and knees over a gradually fatigued Randleman, but Randleman was still able to control the fight, and later landed a striking combo that sent Braga out of the ring. After 20 minutes of fighting, a unanimous decision was given to Randleman, who acknowledged Braga's effort too.
Randleman's next opponent was acclaimed Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Mario "Sukata" Neto. The fight was shorter than the previous, but the situation repeated itself, as Neto dragged the match out by escaping the ring and even hitting him from outside. After managing to finish him with punches, Randleman advanced the finals to meet Carlson Gracie's trainee Carlos "Carlao" Barreto, another famous BJJ fighter. The fight started with a lengthy clinch battle, but Barreto pulled guard and attacked him with upkicks and strikes. The Brazilian remained on the ground, where Randleman attacked with ground and pound, but fatigue eventually caught with him, and Barreto was finally capable to lock a triangle choke for the win. The stoppage was disputed by Coleman, who wound up arguing with Gracie and his team.
The end of Randleman's tenure in Brazil was at Brazil Open-'97 in June 1997. He beat Gustavo Homem de Neve in under two minutes, but he was then pitted against another decorated American wrestler, RAW team member Tom Erikson. Randleman attempted to push the 50 pounds heavier Erikson into the fence, but he was caught with a right hook, and then Erikson unloaded a series of big shots for the knock out. The Hammer House fighter had to be stretchered out with the help of Erikson himself. Randleman claimed he had befriended Erikson before the match and it was difficult for him to fight him.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Randleman fought in the UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions at UFC 19, UFC 20, UFC 23, UFC 26, UFC 28, UFC 31, and UFC 35. Beating Maurice Smith to become a top contender at UFC 19, he fought Bas Rutten for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 20, which was previously vacated by Randy Couture. Randleman lost via a decision to Rutten, even though Randleman maintained positional superiority with takedowns, it was judged that Rutten was the more active fighter with strikes. This fight became infamous due to Mark Coleman's instructions before the second overtime that Randleman "smear the blood" from the cut he had created above Rutten's nose into his eye, so his opponent would not be able to see. This was a very controversial loss at the time, so much that the judges official criteria for how fights are scored and tallied was changed as a consequence.
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.
Before his scheduled fight as the main event at UFC 24, Randleman slipped on some pipes and fell on the concrete floor, which rendered him unconscious. As a result, he was pulled from the card. He was later diagnosed with a concussion. The UFC did not announce that his main event fight was cancelled until right before it was to take place. As a result, there was no main event to this card. His fight, scheduled with Pedro Rizzo, ended up taking place at UFC 26, Randleman won via unanimous decision.
However, he later lost the title to Randy Couture at UFC 28 via TKO. 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 at UFC 31 in his first fight at light heavyweight before beating Renato "Babalu" Sobral by unanimous decision in his final fight with the UFC.
On September 29, 2002, Randleman made his debut in Pride Fighting Championships, 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 outset, 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, was visibly angry.