Former UFC heavyweight champion, Kevin Randleman (August 10, 1971 – February 11, 2016) was recently indicted into the pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame. This wing is dedicated to MMA fighters that turned professional before the unified rules took into effect, which wasn’t until UFC 28. Other legends of the sport such as Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, and Royce Gracie are also inductees under the same wing. Randleman started his combat sports career as a wrestler, winning a high school state championship in 1989. He went on to win the NCAA tournament his sophomore year at Ohio State, and was nominated as the Ohio State University Wrestler of The Century. Randleman first competed for the UFC at UFC 19 in 1999, and won a unanimous decision against heavyweight Maurice Smith. By his third fight in the UFC, he won the heavyweight championship when he defeated Pete Williams via unanimous decision. Randleman would go on to defend the heavyweight title once before losing it to Randy Couture. Randeman’s last fight in the UFC was on January 11, 2002, at UFC 35, in which he defeated Renato Sobral via unanimous decision. He won his next 6 out of 8 fights in other organizations like Pride, scored a knockout of the year against Mirko Crocop in 2004, and became famous for slamming Fedor Emelianenko upside down on his head. Randleman ended his combat sports career in 2011 with an MMA record of 17W 16L. He founded a program called Monster Wrestling Academy at Coronado high school, which was a non-profit organization where he taught kids how to wrestle. On February 11, 2016, he was hospitalized for pneumonia, and died from a heart attack at only 44 years old. Randleman’s UFC Hall of Fame ceremony is set to take place in July 2020; he will be missed and always remembered as a true legend of mixed martial arts.
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