Kevin Randleman vs. Mike Whitehead
The opening bout of the televised card features the much-anticipated return to the sport of Kevin “The Monster” Randleman. Randleman’s career has been continually derailed by injuries and a virulent staph infection, but he will be jumping back in head first against the streaking Mike Whitehead.
Whitehead, a powerful wrestler and striker who first gained recognition on The Ultimate Fighter, has been a terror on the smaller shows, winning 14 of his last 15 fights, with the hug majority of those wins
coming in the first round. Formerly a Miletich student, Whitehead has upped his game by moving to the highly-regarded Xtreme Couture camp in Las Vegas. Stylistically, Whitehead is an intimidating opponent, with bruising standup, powerful wrestling, and a decent submission game.
His opponent, Kevin “The Monster” Randleman, is one of the most enigmatic fighters ever to lace up gloves. A physical specimen the likes of which the sport has rarely seen, Randleman’s wrestling and punching are almost freakishly explosive. His knockout of Mirko Cro Cop in their first meeting looked a lot like an atomic bomb going off, and no real MMA fan will ever forget the epic german suplex he executed against #1 Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Despite his explosiveness and physical gifts, though, Randleman has never really lived up to his almost limitless potential. While, physically, he is a match for any fighter in the world, a troubled childhood left him with some mental baggage that has, at times, cast a dark cloud over his career.
In addition, his loyalty to Mark Coleman’s Hammer House team held back his training for years. While the rest of the sport was cross training, moving from gym to gym and trying to perfect various styles, Randleman was doing the same things he always did, working his boxing and wrestling in Ohio. His lack of submission defense is almost legendary at this point, and unless he has done some substantial work in that department leading up to his big return, the wily Whitehead might well make him pay.
Randleman in this fight is like a poorly constructed bomb. The potential for an explosion is there, and if it happens, no one in the vicinity is going to be left standing. If Randleman puts his physical gifts to good use, he will completely steamroll Whitehead is spectacular fashion. Much more likely, though, is that Whitehead calmly defuses the situation with help from a solid gameplan courtesy of his top-level training camp.
Randleman’s inactivity and lack of quality cross-training will catch up to him yet again, and he will lumber into a guillotine choke from Whitehead early in the second frame.
