Many fans of mixed martial arts this year literally shuddered when they learned that one of the "pioneers" of MMA, an American fighter Kevin Rendelman, had died. The illness brought this fighter to the grave almost instantly, and this fact became even more horrifying to the public. Until now, many of his fans can not get used to the idea that their idol has already left, and now for sure forever. But the memory of him will live long, so let's look at his life in as much detail as possible.
Birth
On August 10, 1971, Kevin Rendelman was born. The illness for him in childhood was something unknown, since he was originally healthy and strong. The future champion was born in Ohio, the city of Sandusky. He got into sports while still a university student, where he was actively engaged in freestyle wrestling and even twice was a winner of the championship among students.
Sports career at UFC
Kevin Rendelman (a disease for him in the early years of performances was a rarity) was one of those who, in the forefront, got into the best world MMA promotion. He performed both light heavy and heavyweight. In 1999, the American fought for the champion title with the Dutchman Basem Ruthen, but after all five rounds he still lost by a referee's decision. Soon, Bas ended his career, and Kevin again became a participant in the battle for the belt. This time he fought with Pete Williams. The fight again went the entire distance, but with a positive result for the “Monster” (Rendelman's sports nickname).
In the summer of 2000, Kevin defended his title against Brazilian Pedro Rizzo, but during the second defense he lost to Randy Couture by knockout. This defeat prompted our hero to move to the category below. In the new division, Kevin began with a defeat to Chuck Liddell. However, already in the next battle he was rehabilitated and defeated Renato Sobralla.
Fights in Pride
Sunk Japanese promotion was for the American something like a swing. He won or lost again. Kevin held his first fight in this organization in September 2002. The debut was successful. In the same year, he won two more victories, after which he received the status of an official contender for the title. At that time, the champion was Vandreley Silva. But the leadership decided otherwise: it brought Rendelman to Quinton Jackson. In this fight, “Taran” knocked out “Monster” in the seventh minute.
After this battle, Kevin Rendelman (the disease at that time was already showing the first signs) suffered another defeat from Kazushi Sakuraba. After which the American returns to heavy weight again and takes part in the Grand Prix. In the first battle, Kevin met with the favorite - Mirko Filipovich. The result of the match - the Croat was knocked out in the second minute.
In the next round of the tournament, Rendelman met with the Russian Emelianenko, whom he lost by a painful hand. It was in this fight that Kevin made a crazy throw, which to this day is included in many video cuts of mixed martial arts. As it turned out, Fedor after the fall received a broken ribs, but still managed to win the fight.
These losses generated a whole chain of subsequent defeats of the Monster. The last loss in the promotion he received in October 2006. The Brazilian Mauricio Hua acted as his offender.
Performances at Sengoku
For almost a year and a half, Kevin Rendelman was forced to rest from the fighting. The disease, the reasons for which is the use of a huge amount of anabolics and other chemicals, did not allow him to train and perform in full force. But, nevertheless, in May 2008, he defeated Ryo Kawamura by unanimous decision. Subsequently, a fight was planned "Monster" against Monson, but due to an injury to the shoulder of Kevin, the battle did not take place.
In November of that year, the Sengoku 6 tournament was held, in which the American lost to Bulgarian Stanislav Nedkov with a referee's decision.
Transition to Strikeforce
By the time the contract was signed with this fighting organization, the best fights of Kevin Rendelman were already behind. In the first fight against Mike Whitehead, the American spoke extremely unconvincingly. In the first two five-minute periods “Monster” definitely lost, in the third one he tried to take the initiative in his own hands and even managed to shake the opponent, but in the end he failed to finish off Mike. The result is another defeat on points.
In May 2010, Kevin was opposed by Roger Gracie. The Brazilian was able to strangle the American, which drew the line under the latter’s performances in MMA fights.
Wrestling
Kevin Rendelman's biography says that he was a member of several wrestling matches. He made his first appearance in such shows back in 2004 under the auspices of the Japanese organization HUSTLE. In 2009, the American called in a fight representative of the WWE organization Kofi Kingston.
A family
In the spring of 2009, Kevin officially legalized his relationship with his girlfriend Elizabeth. The couple raised two children: son Kelvin and daughter Jasmine.
Conclusion
To the great regret of many people, today with us there is no longer a person by the name of Kevin Rendelman. The disease, the name of which is Staphylococcus aureus, did its destructive deed and simply “ate” the athlete's body. For many years, the internal organs of the fighter slowly ceased to work normally. For the most part, this happened because Kevin took many of these drugs that are now on the banned list. But in those days there was no question of any full-fledged doping control, so every fighter survived as best he could.
According to the martial artist himself, he was hospitalized quite often, since any abrasion and bruising resulting from training allowed the infection to intensify. It goes without saying that this state of affairs could not continue indefinitely. And in the end, on February 12, 2016, Kevin was hospitalized with pneumonia, which provoked heart failure. It was she who caused the death of the famous athlete.
The news of death literally blew up the fighting world. Many of his former “colleagues” expressed their condolences and spoke extremely respectfully of Kevin as a person, sincerely regretting that he was no longer with us. Even the head of the UFC - Dana White - said that Rendelman was one of those who created the fights without rules as they are today, and can be considered one of the founders.