EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with a LEGEND of MMA "EL GUAPO" BAS RUTTEN

One of Mixed Martial Art's Finest Warrior's, Trainers and personalities.  This man was the man to retire from the sport as the UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak (21 wins, 1 draw). Rutten has beaten many MMA champions over the course of his career, including wins over UFC champions Frank Shamrock, Kevin Randleman, Guy Mezger and Maurice Smith, and wins over King of Pancrase world champions Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. He is currently the co-host of Inside MMA on HDNet, the trainer of world renowned striking coach Shawn Tompkins, Kimbo's trainer and One of my personal Heroes.  This man is Bas Rutten, check out his exclusive interview with Canadianprofighter.com reporter Jason Harkes.
We go over many things like bouts with Couture, Shamrock, Fedor.  How he met Don Clovis, his thoughts on Kimbo, Shawn Tompkins and Chris Horodecki and much more personal opinions of his.  Make sure to check out one of our best interviews yet with one of the BEST of all time.

We were put into contact by Don Clovis, a manager of yours, how did you meet Don Clovis and what did he do for your career?

Don gave me the opportunity to fight for Pancrase and always made sure they took care of me. Don is really, really nice, but the first time in Japan they kind of "dicked me around".  There I saw the other side of Don, the one that makes sure his fighter gets what he wants.

Needless to say, I got what I want, haha. You know Don, nicest guy, so that was quite a change, great person to have.

You have been an actor, a trainer, a color commentator, a stunt man, the head Coach of the Anaconda fight team for the IFL and of course the UFC heavyweight, you are very talented and keep very busy how do you keep up with everything?

You need a very understandable wife who keeps you in line. For the rest, you just do it, doesn't mean you don't get crazy!

You were the coach of the IFL team the Anaconda’s later led by Shawn Tompkins, how did you meet Top Canadian Trainer Shawn Tompkins and what can you tell us about his prize pupil Chris Horodecki who also fought for the Anacondas?



I met Shawn a long time ago in Edmonton, like 12 years ago. We clicked right away, right after he came to me and stayed in the Dojo for three months to train, he's a great coach. You can teach people how to fight and train, but to really understand it is difficult for 90 % of them, Shawn is one of the 10 %. Horodecki is awesome, very talented, super relaxed, too much in his last fight though, that won't happen again!




I thought the IFL was a good show, why did it not succeed? Was it the delayed airing as I suspect?


Yes it was, they were also spending a lot of money on things they didn't need to. I loved the IFL, they were great guys. In the end, when the new "head of the company" said that ground fighting is like two gay guys on the floor, I think that really closed the doors.

You had stopped training people shortly after your time with Kimbo what was Kimbo really like to train? What do you think his chances are against Matt Mitrione at UFC 113?


Kimbo was great to train when he came in, hungry to learn but that went away a little bit. I also thought it would have been better for him to keep training in between fights, he just came out 6 weeks before the fight, and that's simply not enough. If he keeps training in between he will do much better of course. Against Mitrione is going to be a tough fight, Mitrione is tough, when he fought on TUF he was out of gas in half a round but his heart pulled him through, I like that a lot. Now he's in shape, so more dangerous, natural athlatic abilities but we all knew that from his football of course.



What were the fundamental differences between Pride and the UFC and do you think the UFC will ever succeed in Asia?


Face stamps and knees on the ground in Pride, no elbows though. One 10 minute round and a 5 minute second.
I think the UFC has a chance of succeeding everywhere in the world.

Dana White believes that that MMA will soon be the biggest sport in the world and UFC will be the like the NFL of the sport. Being involved from in MMA from the very beginning you have had a chance to see it evolve from style vs. Style to where it is today, do you agree with him or where do you see MMA’s growth headed?

Well, eventually there will be other big organizations, like three in total, I have been saying this for a long me, just like in boxing.

Who do you think is the UFC’s biggest competitor at the moment, who is your favourite MMA promotion?

Strikeforce would be the biggest. More of my favourite fighters are at the UFC, so I have to go with them if I HAVE to choose. I love them all though.

You were one of the true pioneers of the MIXED approach to MMA, incorporating many disciplines and styles during a time when it seemed to be a specialists sport : stand-up or grappling. For a long time the focus was on being completely well-rounded but it seems that lately the pendulum may have swung the other way: some of the dominant wrestlers are winning again with a direct takedown and GnP attack (Sonnen, GSP, Lesnar are examples, while Maia is an example of an elite specialist who has risen to near the top of his division focusing on BJJ). Do you expect the overall trend of well-rounded fighters dominating to continue, or will there always be a role for the ultra-elite specialist?


It's of course the fighter who knows it all, I won actually more fights by submission then by KO, well, ONE, 12 KO's and 13 submissions, only 3 went the distance. Its very simple, the fighter who knows it all is the hardest to figure out, if you are one dimensional they WILL get you.



Who was your toughest fight ever?

Funaki re-match, he kept getting up. The fight with Randleman was tough because I had an eye full of blood, the other one lost a contact (minus 6, so no vision) and I was swallowing a LOT of blood, made me sick, that was the worst part, Funaki fight really made me work for it.

Rumor had it that you and legend Randy Couture were supposed to fight, was there any truth to that and would you come out of retirement to  take him out?

Yes there was, in Brazil at the time. Randy's then management couldn't come to a $$ deal with the UFC at that time. Now I can't train, and if you can't train, you can't fight (I can only do stand up VERY carefully)


When you fought Kevin Randleman you weighed in at 197, fully clothed and after drinking 4 lbs worth of water weighed in again so that you could fight for and win the Heavyweight Title. In today’s day of massive weight cuts that would put you at around a middle weight, what weight class would you fight at if you were fighting today and what do you think of the weight cutting procedures that go on today?


Light heavyweight, right now you have huge guys with technique. Look what Lesnar did to Mir, and technically, Mir is WAY better, more well rounded, just couldn't handle the pure strength and wrestling.





Ken Shamrock is the only person to defeat you twice, is that a fight you would ever take to settle the
score?

He was offered to fight me in Pride, I said I would come out of retirement for him, but he didn't take the fight. I would have loved that one, I got really good on the ground after the last loss, got angry, trained 2 or 3 times a day on the ground and won my next 8 by submission and never lost again. It would have been a whole different story in the re-match


What would be your dream fight with anyone, past or present, and you were both in your prime?

We talked about it more, I would have loved to fight Fedor when I was 30 til 33.


I have heard that you and your wife are a great couple, in the fast
paced life of entertainment that is very tough thing to accomplish,
can you give some of us a bit of advice who don’t have the “El Guapo”
touch?

A very understandable wife who's also my buddy. Just love her a lot, she's the quiet one and keeps me in line. All my friends want to know if she has a great looking sister because I can pull a lot of stuff, but I am VERY respectful, I am not a lady chaser, perfectly happy at home. I am just really blessed with my beautiful family.

You have been one the most successful fighters post-retirement, can
you give some of our older fighters looking to retire some financial

advice on how to make a living in the business?

Haha, I went to school and worked my whole life, I had three jobs as a 12 year old kid, dish washing, working at the farm and news papers, I always worked. I can do whatever I want because I simply work for it.

If you decided you didn't need an education and didn't think beyond fighting, you are in lot of trouble; everything I do I work hard for, everything. Preparation is the key to success, sure I have some natural instincts, but I worked very hard, that is simply the trick. Read the book "The al chemist" and I mean this, if you want to pursue a dream, read it, if you don't, that's your loss, don't say I didn't tell you to read it!


You have done many different things in your life and become very successful, what is something about Bas Rutten that people don't know?

That I like good soaps and have a lot of them, soaps that don't leave a "film" on your skin, I hate that. And that I dislike towels that don't dry, you know they are there!

Do have any closing remarks for all of your fans?

What all the people say who finally live their dream, just don't give up. Now go and read that book I told you to read, it will open your eyes, and no worries "No readers", it's an easy read and not  that long.

For the rest, Godspeed & Party on!!

Bas