UFC 23: Randleman Beats Pete Williams for Heavyweight Title
UFC 23: Ultimate Japan 2 took place on November 19, 1999, at Tokyo Bay NK Hall in Urayasu, Japan. Kevin Randleman met Pete Williams for the vacant UFC heavyweight championship, while the card also featured a four-man Japanese middleweight tournament won by Kenichi Yamamoto.
Randleman wins the heavyweight title
Randleman won a unanimous decision over Pete Williams after five rounds to claim the vacant heavyweight championship. In the Japanese middleweight tournament, Yamamoto advanced past Daiju Takase by unanimous decision, then submitted Katsuhisa Fujii with a kneebar in the final. Fujii had reached the final by stopping Masutatsu Yano.
The other bouts included Pedro Rizzo’s TKO win over Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Joe Slick’s stoppage of Jason DeLucia, and Eugene Jackson’s knockout of Keiichiro Yamamiya. The event featured no Jeff Rutten, Andy Souwer, or lightweight tournament.
Official results
- UFC heavyweight championship: Kevin Randleman def. Pete Williams by unanimous decision after five rounds.
- Japanese middleweight tournament final: Kenichi Yamamoto def. Katsuhisa Fujii by submission (kneebar).
- Kenichi Yamamoto def. Daiju Takase by unanimous decision.
- Katsuhisa Fujii def. Masutatsu Yano by TKO (punches).
- Pedro Rizzo def. Tsuyoshi Kosaka by TKO (punches), round 3.
- Joe Slick def. Jason DeLucia by TKO after DeLucia suffered a knee injury.
- Eugene Jackson def. Keiichiro Yamamiya by KO (punch), round 3.
A Japanese tournament and a title fight
UFC 23 paired a heavyweight championship bout with a tournament featuring Japanese competitors. See the official UFC event record and Sherdog’s results.
UFC 23 combined a heavyweight championship contest with a separate middleweight tournament, so the event had two parallel competitive threads. Randleman’s five-round decision gave him the vacant heavyweight belt, while Yamamoto won two bouts in one night to take the tournament. These were different formats: the championship was decided in one title bout, and the tournament champion had to advance through a bracket. The official event page records Randleman’s result and the rest of the card. official UFC 23 event record.
Yamamoto’s route through the middleweight bracket required two fights in one evening, while Randleman’s championship bout was a single five-round contest. The event therefore paired a tournament winner with a new heavyweight champion, but the achievements came through different formats. That separation helps explain the card’s structure and keeps the tournament final from being mistaken for a title fight. UFC’s official archive records the championship result and the tournament bouts. official UFC 23 record.
Sources
Article Tags
UFC 23, Kevin Randleman, Pete Williams, Kenichi Yamamoto, UFC History
