eagerly posed for pictures and signed autographs for anyone who asked. Mixed martial arts career 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. Universal Vale Tudo Fighting Cornered by Coleman, Randleman made his debut on October 22, 1996 at UVF 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