a result, there was no main event to this card. His fight, scheduled with Pedro Rizzo, ended up taking place at UFC 26, Randleman won via unanimous decision. However, he later lost the title to Randy Couture at UFC 28 via TKO. After losing the title, he moved down to light heavyweight, feeling it was a more natural weight for his body, but suffered a setback, losing to Chuck Liddell at UFC 31 in his first fight at light heavyweight before beating Renato "Babalu" Sobral by unanimous decision in his final fight with the UFC. PRIDE FC On September 29, 2002, Randleman made his debut in Pride Fighting Championships, taking on Japanese wrestler Michiyoshi Ohara. Randleman acquired an easy victory, as Ohara appeared to have no intention of trying to fight Randleman right from the outset, and even tried to flee and grab the ropes several times in an attempt to avoid damage from Randleman. This match was panned by the audience and Randleman himself, who left the ring before being awarded his trophy, was visibly angry. Throughout the course of 2002, Randleman gained victories over Kenichi Yamamoto via TKO after vicious knee strikes from north-south position and Murilo "Ninja" Rua via TKO by cutting Rua with a counter left hook. This winning streak would eventually put him in the spot of contender for the Pride Middeweight Championship, held by Wanderlei Silva. At Pride 25, Randleman faced another Middleweight contender, fellow American wrestler Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, in a match that determined the number one contender for Silva's belt. In the first round Randleman suffered his first loss in PRIDE, after an incredible knee-uppercut combination from Jackson knocked Randleman down. The referee stopped the fight after Rampage got dominant position and began landing strikes on Randleman. Randleman faced Kazushi Sakuraba for his last match in 2003. Just three months before the fight with Sakuraba, Randleman was involved in a severe car accident in which he seized while driving his SUV. He hit a truck and was almost decapitated, but survived with a horrible head wound that required 180 stitches. However, he took an EKG test and several physical tests by a doctor which determined that he was medically okay to leave, and that there was essentially no issues other than the large skin wound. Randleman lost the fight to Sakuraba via a third-round armbar submission. Randleman became one of the sixteen