Kevin Rosier (January 6, 1962 – April 14, 2015) was an American kickboxer, boxer and mixed martial artist. He had much success as a kickboxer, winning a number of titles, but did not transition particularly well into the world of boxing and was mostly seen as a journeyman fighter. Notably, he also took part at the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship event in 1993 where he reached the semi-finals.
Career
Kickboxing and boxing
Rosier spent the majority of his fighting career in kickboxing where he held a record of 66 wins, all by knockout, and 8 losses. He was also the 3x WKA World Super Heavyweight Champion and ISKA North American Super Heavyweight Champion.[1] His kickboxing career began in the 1980s and his last bout came in 1999 when he lost to Mike Labree in a fight for the vacant IKF International Kickboxing Federation Pro Full Contact Rules Super Heavyweight World Title on May 15, 1999 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. At 26 seconds into round 10, LaBree caught Rosier with a short left to the head and Rosier went down to his knees and the bout was stopped.[2]
In 1993, with only five weeks notice, Rosier elicited the help of his former student World Kickboxing Champion A.J. Verel to coach and train him for UFC 1, the very first mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. His first match in the tournament, the second in the card, pitted him against American Kenpo expert and two-time World Kickboxing Federation super heavyweight champion Zane Frazier.[3]
Rosier opened the match knocking Frazier down with punches, knee strikes and an elbow strike to the turtled up Frazier's back,[4] but his opponent recovered and went to exchange knee strikes with him in the clinch.[3] At that moment, capitalizing on the lack of regulation about hair pulling and groin attacks, Frazier managed to take over by striking Rosier with a low blow and dragging him by the hair.[4][5] The kenpo fighter dominated the fight with striking combinations both standing and on their knees,[4] even breaking Rosier's jaw with a right hand.[5] Some minutes later, however, Frazier slowed down due to exhaustion, allowing Rosier to recover and come back with several punches that put Frazier against the fence. Rosier then pushed him down to the mat and scored multiple punches and stomps to the back of the head until Frazier's corner threw the towel.[3][4][5]
In the semifinals, Rosier came up against Dutch savate fighter Gerard Gordeau. The Dutchman targeted Rosier's knees with leg kicks and kept distance with him through jabbing. When Rosier was forced to cover down after a barrage of knees and elbows, Gordeau scored a stomp to the spleen, prompting Rosier to tap on the mat, signalling his submission.[4] Although eliminated from the tournament, Rosier praised Gordeau and expressed the desire to return.[4]
After this, he continued to compete in MMA and next fought at UFC 4 where he lost via submission 14 seconds into his bout with "The Ghetto Man" Joe Charles. He competed five more times in MMA, losing four and winning one, and retired with a record of two wins and six losses.
Later life
After retiring from competition, Kevin suffered several bouts of illness (including open-heart surgery and a nearly fatal fall while already in intensive care). By August 2013, Kevin was in stable health & reportedly residing in a retirement resort in Nashville.
^ abcDon Beu, The Ultimate Fighting Championship: Jujutsu and Royce Gracie Reign Supreme at No-Holds-Barred Tournament, Black Belt magazine, March 1994
^ abcL. Jon Wertheim (January 5, 2010). Blood in the Cage: Mixed Martial Arts, Pat Miletich, and the Furious Rise of the UFC. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN9780547347226.
Mike Labree
