One of the pioneers of MMA, Fedor Emelianenko has been hospitalized after testing positive with Covid-19. According to RT Sport, Fedor posted the following on Thursday: “Thanks to all who are genuinely concerned for my health, I feel fine. I am going into recovery. I’m grateful to the doctors and medical staff for their care and […]
One of the pioneers of MMA, Fedor Emelianenko has been hospitalized after testing positive with Covid-19. According to RT Sport, Fedor posted the following on Thursday:
“Thanks to all who are genuinely concerned for my health, I feel fine. I am going into recovery. I’m grateful to the doctors and medical staff for their care and hard work” (H/T MMA Junkie).
RT Sport also reported that Emelianenko is currently in a specialist Covid-19 hospital, situated in Moscow. The Heavyweight legend was supposedly set to headline Bellators first ever even in Russia had Covid not struck. According to Scott Coker the event would have served as Fedor’s retirement bout. In an interview with MMA Junkie, Coker stated the following:
“I really wanted Fedor to fight his retirement fight not in front of just the officials and have the staff and be on a closed environment in a bubble. I really want Fedor to finish his career in front of 30,000 people in Moscow, to be honest, Bellator MMA’s first fight in Russia.”
“Do a fight in Moscow. For him, the prodigal son has returned. Fedor is the greatest fighter of all-time, and he’s now coming home to retire and put his gloves up and hang it up to retire.”
In the same interview, Coker also said that he still hoped to hold the event, once Covid had been contained.
“I’m hoping that the vaccine will start fixing the situation and we can start bringing in crowds,” Coker said. “But to me, I feel we’ve waited so long for Fedor to fight, hoping that the pandemic would thin out, and now that it’s getting close and I can see light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic to go away, I really want to wait and to do these fights in a proper stadium, especially the one we do in Moscow.
“I want to do something very big for him, because to me, it’s like he’s the king, and the king is returning from the battlefield.”
This likely the last thing Fedor Emelianenko is currently thinking about, and there is a strong possibility that we may never see the Last Emperor grace the sport of MMA again.
Former PRIDE Fighting Championships and Combate Americas feature, José Alberto Rodríguez Chacaun, better known as Alberto Del Rio has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and a count of aggravated kidnapping in relation to an incident involving his ex-girlfriend in San Antonio, Texas in May of this year, according to a report from TMZ […]
Former PRIDE Fighting Championships and Combate Americas feature, José Alberto Rodríguez Chacaun, better known as Alberto Del Rio has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and a count of aggravated kidnapping in relation to an incident involving his ex-girlfriend in San Antonio, Texas in May of this year, according to a report from TMZ Sports. Indicted by a grand jury on October 9 – Del Rio was formally charged.
The 43-year-old San Luis Potosí, Mexico native is alleged to have sexually assaulted his former partner as well as caused bodily harm, after accusing her of infidelity – with the police report detailing how the alleged victim had lacerations, bruises on her face, as well as scratch marks on her neck and body. Del Rio’s ex-partner also alleged he had destroyed both her phone and laptop, before attempting to burn her passport.
Del Rio is alleged to have forced a sock into the victim’s mouth to “keep her quiet“, as well as punching her in the face multiple times and choking her during the alleged sexual assault. With a warrant served and executed, Del Rio was arrested and charged with the above-noted charges, before he was released from Bexar County jail on a $50,000 bail on May 10.
If convicted, Del Rio faces a maximum prison sentence of ninety-nine years for the alleged felony aggravated assaults. For the four sexual assault charges, they carry a maximum sentence of twenty years each.
A fifteen fight mixed martial arts veteran, Del Rio spent a two-fight stint under the PRIDE Fighting Championships banner between 2003 and 2004 – dropping defeats to Mirko Cro Cop, and Kazuhiro Nakamura.
In his most recent professional appearance, the 43-year-old dropped his sixth professional loss with a submission defeat to former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in December of last year.
During his time under the World Wrestling Entertainment banner, Del Rio claimed the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship on two separate occasions.
UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman has revealed he was a victim of sexual assault during his time at Ohio State University, by Dr. Richard Strauss. Coleman, a former UFC heavyweight champion, as well as a PRIDE FC heavyweight titleholder, is revered as one of the biggest influences on mixed martial arts […]
UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman has revealed he was a victim of sexual assault during his time at Ohio State University, by Dr. Richard Strauss.
Coleman, a former UFC heavyweight champion, as well as a PRIDE FC heavyweight titleholder, is revered as one of the biggest influences on mixed martial arts today, and a true pioneer of the sport – is known for his relentless ground-and-pound barrages, which led to his christening as ‘The Godfather of Ground-And-Pound’.
An accomplished amateur wrestler, during a stint which seen him crowned an NCAA Division I winner, as well as NCAA Big Ten, a 1991 Pan American Games victor, as well as an appearance at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, where he placed seventh in freestyle-wrestling.
The Ohio native detailed the abuse he suffered in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated – in which he explained how he was examined inappropriately during a physical appointment with Dr. Strauss.
“He examined me pretty good,” Coleman said. “It was an eye-opener. I don’t want to go further than that.“
In what he explained was something of a “long-running joke” Coleman reveals how Dr. Strauss would shower with students at the university as well as sit nude on benches with them in the locker rooms. Strauss is also said to have touched the genitals of the athletes during other physical examinations when it wasn’t necessary to do so.
Coleman who was under a scholarship programe, further told how coaches at the university had joked and mocked how students would be required to see Dr. Strauss if they didn’t perform well during training and practice. The above mentioned Sports Illustrated feature details how Dr Strauss had a slew of nicknames such as, “Dr. Drop-Your-Drawers“, “Dr. Feel Good“, “Dr. Balls“, “Dr. Jelly Fingers“, and “Dr. Nuts“
The now 55-year-old Coleman explained how other students and training partners would joke about the abuse they had received, during a time period of much stigma toward the subject of sexual abuse – and told how he more or less accepted the situation, given his ambitions to make the United States Olympic wrestling team.
“We never thought a man could sexually abuse a man,” Coleman said. “We just played it off. We joked about it. But I don’t think we were really joking. This guy controlled my future. We all put up with it. For me, it was like, ‘Just clear me so I can go win an NCAA title and make the Olympic team. People say, ‘Why would they let a little man do this?’ Well, it’s complicated. You felt powerless. I wasn’t going to stir up sh*t, punch Dr. Strauss in the face and risk everything.“
“I didn’t know how bad it was affecting me, but now I look back and I was very angry. I went into practice very angry a lot of times, storming into the wrestling room and screaming. I was confused. I spun it as, ‘Well, it’s good to be angry, I’m gonna have a hell of a practice and kick someone’s ass’ But now I realized, it wasn’t good and I realize why.“
Dr. Strauss committed suicide in 2005 and is reported to have committed forty-seven instances of rape, and one-thousand, four-hundred and twenty-nine instances of inappropriate fondling.
Kevin Randleman, who passed away in 2016 due to complications from pneumonia, would have turned fifty years old on August 10th according to a podcast documentary by MMA TRUFAN. Randleman’s sister, Erica Randleman, first shared his real age with MMA TRUFAN via text message. “August 10 1970 is his DOB. About one year after me,” […]
Kevin Randleman, who passed away in 2016 due to complications from pneumonia, would have turned fifty years old on August 10th according to a podcast documentary by MMA TRUFAN. Randleman’s sister, Erica Randleman, first shared his real age with MMA TRUFAN via text message. “August 10 1970 is his DOB. About one year after me,” she continued. “I’m not sure where 71 came from but he didn’t mind if someone thought he was one year younger lol.”
Randleman’s widow, Elizabeth Broglia Randleman, confirmed his age via text message last week, “Yes, August 10th would have been his 50th birthday.”
Randleman seems to have fooled the entire world with this prank. At the time of his death, Randleman was widely reported to be forty-four years old when, in fact, he was forty-five. Wikipedia lists his date of birth incorrectly. Even the UFC reported his age incorrectly a few months ago in his hall of fame induction video.
MMA TRUFAN uncovered other revelations regarding the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and 2-time NCAA Division 1 National Wrestling Champion.
Randleman Saved a Fan’s Life
A fan, named Marcus Sewell, shared a story with MMA TRUFAN from when he was considering taking his own life before receiving an unexpected phone call from Randleman.
“I had this thought that I should really just end my life. I went onto Twitter like, ‘This is the end of the ropes and stuff like that. I can’t take life anymore. Goodbye’”
“I was really going to do it. I went somewhere, found rope wherever my dad’s shed was. I get a notification on Twitter. It was from Kevin Randleman. I think it was a private message. He was like, ‘Hey, are you okay? What’s going on?’ I just flat out said, ‘I’m just about to kill myself.’ He was like, ‘What’s your number?’ and I gave it to him. A couple minutes later I get a call from a withheld number… He said, ‘Hello, is this Marcus?’ It was Kevin, and I broke the f–k down.”
Sewell recalled the stunning moment and mixed emotions he felt at the time.
“One minute you’re about to kick the chair out from under you and the next second you’re talking to ‘The Monster’ himself,” Sewell continued. “He talked to me a lot about what happened in his childhood. About 20 minutes goes by and I told him I want to make a change for myself. He told me, ‘You have to do something about it. I don’t want you to get off this phone and not do nothing about it. Do something about it.’”
“I thanked him and I went and got into counseling. I had never talked about when I was molested when I was younger. If Kevin hadn’t talked to me about it, I wouldn’t have faced that issue. Without Kevin Randleman calling me, I’d probably be dead in the ground.”
The Jaw Incident
One of the defining moments of Randleman’s collegiate wrestling career occurred while he was pursuing his second straight national title at Ohio State. Randleman’s former wrestling coach, Russ Hellickson, recalled a gruesome injury Randleman suffered that nearly ended his season.
“Rex Holman and Kevin were national champs together. They were wrestling in practice together and Kevin lifted Rex from behind and in the flurry Rex fell on Kevin’s side of his face on the mat. Everything stopped and he had dislocated both sides of the jaw on each side of his face. It was actually protruding out. They got him into the training room and they took him to the university hospital. It took them well over an hour to get it reduced back into place.
“At the time the doctor said he was going to be out of competition. Well, we were a week away from the national tournament. We had finished up the Big 10 (tournament) and we were in the middle of practice. (Doctors) said, ‘You’re not going to be able to let him wrestle because there is a chance he could dislocate it again and injure a nerve.’ I said, ‘That is not my decision to make. He’s a defending national champion.’”
“(Randleman) said (that) even at the time when the doctor was telling him he couldn’t compete anymore. He was kind of mumbling through his lips because his jaw was swollen. He said, ‘They’re not going to stop me coach. They’re not going to stop me.’ I said, ‘Kevin, just relax. We will leave it up to you. It will be your decision.’”
Randleman decided to compete in the national tournament the following weekend. It was while he was competing in the national tournament when the most bizarre moment of the story took place. Hellickson continued, “I think we were in the quarterfinal or semifinal match. I can’t really remember but in the middle of action he dislocated one side of his jaw again.”
“We took the injury time and we had our trainer out there and we even had a doctor trying to get his hand in there to get it back into place. The referee came over and said, ‘You’re injury time is almost out. You have fifteen seconds,’ and nobody was able to get it fixed. Kevin pushed everybody away and he dropped from his feet down to the mat and literally bounced the side of his head off of the mat and it went back into place.”
“WITHOUT KEVIN RANDLEMAN CALLING ME, I’D PROBABLY BE DEAD IN THE GROUND.”
However, Randleman’s work was far from over.
“He finished that match and then he got in the finals. We had a guy who had him in a front headlock which would have obviously made it a very painful thing. But Kevin kept his chin pulled down and did a lot of great wrestling in winning that national championship.”
Hellickson reflected on Randleman’s incredible achievement.
“He was committed to being a national champ and that to me was a reflection of what Kevin was willing to do to see through the dream he always had for wrestling and he was a tough guy. He was able to endure a lot of pain and put up with a lot of things. But, it was a good story ending for a guy who was totally committed to seeing the battle out through the end and he did.”
UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman was an assistant coach on Hellickson’s staff at the time. He shared his recollection of the incident.
“(Randleman) looks at me and he says, ‘Pop my f’n jaw back into place.’ And honestly, well that was a bit too much for me. You know what I mean? I was like, ‘Damn, that’s too much to ask Kevin. I don’t even know nothing about jaws. But he’s looking at me and he’s saying, ‘Come on, hit me.’ He’s telling me to him in the face, hit his jaw back into place. And I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness. I’m crazy but I’m not this crazy.’”
“So anyways, he dropped down to the mat, slammed his head on the ground a couple of times, stood back up and he looked at me and he looked at Russ and he said, ‘I’m ready to go. I’m good.’”
Randleman went on to win his second straight NCAA Division 1 national title.
Randleman’s popularity exploded once he began fighting in the Pride Fighting Championships. He later participated in professional wrestling with his longtime training partner and mentor, Mark Coleman.
“It was just an easy fit. I was already doing (professional) wrestling and the next thing you know Pride started their own organization,” he continued. “It just fell into place. Me and Kevin are going to be the American tag team. We got wrestling singlets on, wrestling shoes on and we’re going to whoop your a–.”
Randleman would go out of his way to entertain the Japanese fans. In fact, UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture saw a time when Randleman obliged an unusual request from fans.
“Japan is an interesting place and the fans find out right away what hotels we’re staying at. They literally camp in the lobbies to get pictures and get autographs. Kevin was just one of those guys they loved and would just mob him and he was very gracious and took his time.”
“(He) would even slap them. (Laughs) Which sounds weird but that’s what they want,” he continued jokingly. “But I saw (Randleman) line up six of them and just walk down the line.”
Ricco Rodriguez Introduced Kevin and Elizabeth
Randleman met his second wife, Elizabeth, met through a mutual friend: former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez.
Rodriguez explained one of the key qualities Elizabeth brought to their relationship.
“What was amazing about their relationship was: she knew how to calm him down and bring him back,” he continued. “Kevin reminded me a lot of The Hulk. If you got him to the green you’re not stopping him. You gotta get out of the room. There’s no talking to him. And Elizabeth was the woman that would calm him down to bring him back to Kevin.”
“Freakish” Natural Talent
Randleman certainly had tremendous natural talent. In other words, his 4.3 40-yard dash time would have outpaced most NFL running backs and his 38-inch vertical was greater than most NBA players.
Russ Hellickson reflected on Randleman’s abilities when he first recruited him.
“He was dynamic and explosive and scored a lot of points,” he continued. “He was really a talented guy. He had a lot of native ability. It was almost freakish.”
Former PRIDE Fighting Championships and Combate Americas feature, José Alberto Rodríguez Chacaun, better known as Alberto Del Rio has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and a count of aggravated kidnapping in relation to an incident involving his ex-girlfriend in San Antonio, Texas in May of this year, according to a report from TMZ […]
UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman has revealed he was a victim of sexual assault during his time at Ohio State University, by Dr. Richard Strauss. Coleman, a former UFC heavyweight champion, as well as a PRIDE FC heavyweight titleholder, is revered as one of the biggest influences on mixed martial arts […]
Kevin Randleman, who passed away in 2016 due to complications from pneumonia, would have turned fifty years old on August 10th according to a podcast documentary by MMA TRUFAN. Randleman’s sister, Erica Randleman, first shared his real age with MMA TRUFAN via text message. “August 10 1970 is his DOB. About one year after me,” […]