Bas Rutten
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Bas Rutten
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This EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW is an expanded version of a special Q & A featured in the Black Belt Buyer's Guide 2008, which went on sale November 6, 2007. CLICK HERE TO ORDER!
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Bas Rutten is one of a small number of pioneers who were not only present and active during the birth of mixed martial arts, but also successful and charismatic to boot. Hailing from Tilburg, the wool capital of Holland, Rutten has lived a colorful life as a model, then a nightclub bouncer, and then a competitive no-holds-barred fighter. Over a span of 21 years, he amassed a 14-1 muay Thai record in Holland, then fought in Japanese and American mixed-martial arts promotions and became the King of Pancrase three times. He also held the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight championship with an MMA record of 28 wins, four losses and one draw.
Never a monochromatic personality, Rutten became a celebrity color commentator with Black Belt contributor (and the original FightSport magazine’s co-founder and first editor) Stephen Quadros for the English-language pay-per-view broadcasts of PRIDE Fighting Championships events in Japan. His intimate knowledge of the fight game and comic tendencies were a big hit with viewers who still list the announcing team among their all-time favorites. It wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling and Rutten was being courted by producers and directors to bring his unique combination of personality and fighting skill to the big screen. He recently coached the Anacondas team for the International Fight League and then relinquished his position to concentrate on announcing duties for the IFL and training professionals and others at several Los Angeles-area gyms, including his own in Westlake Village and Legends MMA Training Center in Hollywood as a partner with Randy Couture. In this expanded conversation based on an interview conducted for the Black Belt Buyer’s Guide 2008, Rutten talks about … well, just about anything and everything that was on his mind that day.
I see it as an Olympic sport again [again] in 2012, because it started out as an Olympic sport [as pankration]. I truly believe it’s going to get really big. People are very intrigued. They want to know who’s the baddest dude on the planet. So it will overshadow boxing? You can never replace boxing, because it is a totally different thing—just like Thai boxing and K-1. I still love to watch boxing. Everybody says that [MMA’s] pushing boxing away, but it was already going down before MMA. How do you see the evolution of MMA affecting the industry at large? I think there will be around five companies in about three years that are the big ones. Maybe some of those will buy others out, like the Ultimate Fighting Championship is doing already, which is a smart thing to do. They get stronger and then you’re going to have the same thing as in boxing. You’re going to have three major organizations—maybe more, I don’t know. I don’t believe it’s good to have too many shows because then people will never realize who’s the real champion. Then you’re still going to have people who only like one organization better than the other organization. That wouldn’t be good because I want everybody to just love MMA. In general, everybody wants to know who’s the best fighter, so they have to start competing against each other. Hopefully, in the future people get a little bit more relaxed and let the championships unify among companies. That would be a great thing. In addition to all the business angles, MMA has become a lifestyle among fighters and fans alike. Tattoos are a big part of the fighter’s lifestyle, it seems. A lot of guys wear them prominently. You have some, but not a lot. What’s your take on them? If I stand in front of somebody, even if I don’t wear a shirt, you can’t see anything. [I have tattoos] inside [my] forearm, inside my wrists and palms. I thought [that if they were] very prominent then it might hurt me later on. Of course, it’s internationally accepted right now, but you don’t want to over do it. I saw a picture of a guy that had “King of the Cage” on his forehead and I thought, “Whoa! That’s a little bit too much.” Or “PRIDE” on a leg. That I wouldn’t do. What do your tattoos mean? Everything has a meaning to me. I’ve got a symbol for the Year of the Snake, all these tattoos on the side of my knees and elbows are all to calm me down. I really believe in those kinds of spirits. I have my daughters’ names on my wrists. In my right palm I have a qi or chi symbol which means life energy—and after I put that one on, I never lost a fight. Since [for some reason] I thought I was going to die soon, I put xiao on the other one, which means “long life.” On my forearm I have a really cool samurai logo that I put on in an special place in Japan. It stands for “family.” On my left arm is the sign of a Buddhist god who protects all the people born in the Year of the Snake. A long time ago I put furoshin on my hand and that means “immovable monk.” So whatever stressful situation I get in, it helps me keep focused and relaxed. What made you shave your head and when did you first do it? Oh, this is a good one. I did it when I was 21. Believe it or not, I used to be a model, the Zoolander type. I was always taking care of my hair because it was very important. One day it didn’t work—my hair wasn’t cooperating and I had to be somewhere. I got really stressed about it and I wet it again and I started putting gel in it—something I never did—and [that] didn’t work, either. I tried three or four times, and I saw my ex-wife’s purple hair dryer [sitting] there, so I grabbed it. I never used a blow dryer, but I aimed it at my head and turned it on. I looked in the mirror and saw myself standing there with a purple hair dryer and thought, “This is so wrong.” And that was it. I put it down, walked out, and my [ex-wife] asked me, “What’s going on? What are you doing?” I said, “I’m going to shave my head.” She started laughing. She thought I was kidding, but I went straight to the barber and said, “Cut it off. Everything.” When he cut it off, I looked in the mirror and said, “OK, that’s it. It will never grow back.” That’s how I [became] bald. You’re reputed for being involved in a lot of projects constantly. Can you talk about a few of them? I do so much stuff, it’s insane. I do the IFL Battlegroundon MyNetwork TV. On Fox Sports Net, there’s also an IFL show. Then there’s a weekly news show about mixed martial arts coming called Inside MMA and I’m going to be the host of that show on HDNet.I write columns for magazines and now I’m answering e-mail from the Los Angeles Police Department. I have a Web site at www.basrutten.tv and one called www.mmatoday.com, which is growing really fast. If you could choose any film director to work with, who would that be? I’ve always been a big Quentin Tarantino fan. I’m trying to reach him with a really cool script with some big names attached to it. I’m also a big fan of Guy Ritchie. Martin Scorsese, of course, is really good. I like Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Bay and Scarface director Brian De Palma. And you can’t say anything bad about Steven Spielberg. If you can make a movie like E.T., you’ve got talent. Any new film projects on the horizon? I just worked on this documentary about fighters called Potent. They went all over the world and asked famous fighters the same questions to see how they [each] answered them differently. Check out www.potentthemovie.com. I think it could be really big. You’re going to really like it. What kind of daily training do you do now to maintain your fitness? I started [just recently again]. I haven’t trained since my last fight [in July 2006, against Ruben Villareal] because of [my] injuries. I stopped drinking a while ago now. It’s not like I’m a drunk, but I just thought, “You know what? Maybe I should just cut that out. If I partied two times a week, that’s already enough.” I’m 43 years old and now all these things are happening for me, why not stop it all? Right away I started feeling better. Now I train every day doing the [routines featured on the DVD set] Bas Rutten’s Mixed Martial Arts Workout. About the interviewer: Edward Pollard is the managing editor for Black Belt and can be reached at epollard@aimmedia.com. 
Bas Rutten: Knee StrikeBas Rutten: Shoulder Lock Bas Rutten: Behind the Scenes - August 2007 Issue's Cover Shoot |
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