MMA Legacy 9.21.09: Bas Rutten

Posted by Bill Wannop on 09.21.2009

This week MMA Legacy focuses on a fighter who was influential in the crafting of early MMA, 'El Guapo' himself, Bas Rutten! From his battles in Pancrase with the Shamrocks to winning a championship in the UFC and to his current commentator role, relive the Legacy of one of the greats! Plus UFC 103 highlights and thoughts!

Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. This week MMA Legacy foes back to the beginnings of MMA to examine the career that many current fans may have missed, Bas ‘El Guapo' Rutten. From his battles in Pancrase with the Shamrock's to winning a championship in the UFC and to his current commentator role, Rutten truly has a MMA legacy!

Early Life
Bas Rutten was born on February 24, 1965 (making him 44 years old today) in Tilburg, Netherlands. When he was little he became interested in MMA at age 11 after watching Enter the Dragon. His parents did not like the idea of fighting, so they did not allow him to participate in any kind of martial arts, however he eventually. He eventually began to train in Tae Kwon Do and would go on to earn a 2nd degree black belt.

He also began training in Kyokushin Karate and would earn a 5th degree black belt. In high school he was bullied a lot do to the fact that he had a skin condition on his hands, as well as being skinny. He has since returned to his high school after becoming a professional fighter and challenged his former bullies to some friendly competition, but they always seem to turn him down.

Out of high school, he began competing in Thai boxing at age 20. Bas would have a very successful career going 14-0, winning all fights by KO, before finally losing by TKO in his final fight.

Pancrase
In 1993, Japanese pro wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki, and Minoru Suzuki were searching for fighters for their new hybrid fighting/wrestling promotion. The new organization was termed Pancrase and focused on submission grappling with no closed fist strikes to the face, which ultimately became a precursor to current MMA.

Bas' first Pancrase fight was on Septemebr 21, 1993 against Ryushi Yanagisawa with whom he defeated by TKO in the first round at Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1. He would then defeat Takaki Fuke at the next event Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 2 also by TKO, however he was then defeated by Masakatsu Funaki by submission due to toe hold bringing his record to 2-1. Bas would go on to defeat Vernon White, Yoshiki Takahashi and Minori Suzuki by submission and TKO. At this point in his career Bas was mostly a stand up fighter with limited experience on the ground. This would become quite evident when he faced off against Ken Shamrock at Pancrase: Road to the Championship 3. In the fight, Ken Shamrock was the current King of Pancrase and was able to catch Bas in a rear naked choke for the submission victory.



After the defeat Bas would defeat Jason Delucia by guillotine choke but then would lose a close decision to Frank Shamrock to bring his record to 6-3. Bas would again challenge Ken Shamrock but again would be forced to submit when Ken caught Bas in a knee bar. That submission loss would be the last loss of Bas's career. He would improve his ground game and go on to defeat Maurice Smith at Pancrase: Eyes of the Beast 4 by knee bar submission. He would avenge his loss to Frank Shamrock by split decision as well as defeat Maurice Smith again, Frank Shamrock by TKO, and Guy Mezger among others to go on a 17 fight winning streak.



UFC
Bas would finally sign with the UFC after going 24-4-1 in Pancrase. His first fight would take place at UFC 18: The Road to the Heavyweight Title where he faced off against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Upon entering the UFC, Bas was hyped as one of the best martial artists in the world and was thought to easily dispose of Kohsaka. The fight was more evenly fought then people thought with Kohsaka getting some takedowns and doing some damage with the ground and pound. However near the end of the fight, Bas's stand up would prove to be too good for Kohsaka and he would eventually pound him out for the TKO.

After the victory Bas would get a shot at the heavyweight title, against Kevin Randleman at UFC 20: Battle For the Gold. The fight would end in controversy however as Randleman and Rutten would fight to a decision. All throughout the fight, Randleman controlled the fight landing multiple takedowns on Rutten and using his ground and pound to inflict major damage. Bas did not do much damage at all and when the final horn sounded, most everyone including the announcers had thought that Randleman had the victory locked up. However when the scores were read it ended up being a split decision victory for Rutten marred in controversy (perhaps Cecil Peoples was a judge?)
Following the victory Bas vacated the title, with aspirations of participating in the middleweight division which was more his natural weight. However while training for his next fight in 1999, Bas suffered some major injuries. He blew out his knee as well as tore his biceps. Due to the severity of these injuries, Bas decided to retire from active competition.



Life After Fighting
Following his retirement Bas continued to stay active, taking part in various small acting roles as well as becoming an active wrestler for NJPW from 2000-2002. Bas also became the voice of PRIDE, as he commentated for almost every major PRIDE event from PRIDE 1 to the 2005 PRIDE Grand Prix. He also has done commentating work for the IFL, as well as currently is the co-host of Inside MMA on HD Net along side Kenny Rice. While it has never been confirmed, most people believe that Bas Rutten is the fighter who was on the first UFC logos. He has the nickname El Guapo which means ‘Handsome One' given to him by his wife.



Bas announced a return to fighting in 2006 and was scheduled to take on Kimo Leopoldo at World Fighting Alliance on July 22, 2006. However before the event Kimo tested positive for steroid and was replaced by Ruben Villareal. In the fight Bas used repeated leg kicks to earn a TKO victory after Villareal could no longer compete.

Future Outlook
Bas Rutten was one of the innovators of the current style of MMA, competing and becoming the King of Pancrase. He had an excellent career and although he had limited fights under current MMA rules, he fought the best of the best in Pancrase. He is truly a legend and continues to be a great ambassador for the sport of MMA. His personality and humor on Inside MMA, makes him one of the most likable and well educated men in the sport as well as his commentating for PRIDE. Hopefully he continues to have a presence in the sport by train fighters(he was the former trainer of Kimbo Slice) and participating in MMA commentary.

Credit:
Wikipedia.org
BasRutten.com

UFC 103 Recap

Hermes Franca vs. Tyson Griffin
Man Tyson Griffin showed up tonight and gave an impressive performance against a man who has never been finished in his career. Griffin changed that by catching him with a nice jab and finishing him on the ground with brutal ground and pound. Griffin seems to get better, every fight he is in!



Frank Trigg vs. Josh Koscheck
Before the fight Frank Trigg told everyone that this fight would end early, and he was right, as in the first round, Josh clipped him in the back of the head, then hit a nice right hand to knock him done and finished him by unloading on him. While Trigg complained about the stoppage, it looked justified to me as he was simply taking huge shots and doing nothing. Koscheck then challenged Matt Hughes at the end of the fight, which I think is a logical next opponent for him.




Paul Daley vs. Martin Kampmann
Well Kampmann did what I thought he would and that was fight with his pride instead of his head by trying to stand and exchange instead of exposing the weak ground game of Paul Daley. It did not end well for Kampmann and Daley came out looking like a star with great striking and a good personality. Again some of the fans were upset about the stoppage as at the end of the fight Yves Lavigne judged that Kamnmann was out on his feet, and I have to agree with him, as he was basically just covering his head taking huge shots from Daley. Rumor has it that Mike Swick may be next for Daley, which again could be a good matchup for Daley if Swick decides to keep it standing.




Junior Dos Santos vs. Mirko Cro Cop
Well Dos Santos basically ended Cro Cop's career by making him verbally submit from being completely out matched on his feet. I think that Mirko has been going through the same thing that Chuck Liddell was and that is that people have figured out their style and how to beat them and they refuse to evolve. With Cro Cop, you just have to be aggressive and push the action which does not allow Cro Cop time to set up or do anything except push you away. Dos Santos never looked in danger and completely dominated the striking finishing the fight with knees and an uppercut which caused Cro Cop to verbally submit, stating he could not see. I don't think Cro Cop will get another fight in the UFC, and for all intents and purposes his career is basically over, as he really is a shell of his former self.




Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin
This fight started off super slow as there was little contact between either fighter for about 2 minutes. However Vitor found an opening and clipped Franklin on the back of the head knocking him down, then he completely uploaded on him ending his night rather quickly. While Vitor looked impressive, I have to question Dana White stating that he may be next in line for a title shot against Anderson Silva. While it may make for a great fight, I would be pissed if I was Henderson or Marquart as Belfort only has one fight in the UFC, and that fight wasn't even in the 185lbs weight class! For him to get a title shot seems completely unfair and I think he should have to face another contender at the 185lb limit first.




All in all it was a pretty good event however this event may have shown firsthand how airing the prelims live on Spike TV can come back to bite you, as all the televised matchups were finished by about the 2 hr mark. To fill the time the UFC was forced to re-air a fight that was shown earlier on Spike TV.

That does it for this week. Next week thanks to his impressive performance at UFC 103, we will examine the career of Tyson Griffin!

TWITTER
http://www.twitter.com/411mania
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma