Bas Rutten

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Bas "El Guapo" Rutten

Statistics
Nickname	El Guapo
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	205 lb (93 kg)
Born	February 24, 1965
Town of birth	Tilburg, Netherlands
Fighting style	Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	28
By knockout	12
By submission	13
Losses	4
Draws	1

Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten (born February 24, 1965) is a Dutch mixed martial arts fighter and color commentator. He was a three time King of Pancrase, former Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight Champion, and is a certified MTBN Thai Boxing instructor, Pancrase instructor, a 5th Degree Black Belt in Kyokushin karate and a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. He is also the founder of "The Bas Rutten System" and the author of various martial art books and videos. He holds notable wins over Frank Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki, Guy Mezger and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, and is considered by many to be the best Dutch fighter in MMA history.

1 Biography
2 Record
3 Personal Life
4 Trivia
5 Quotes
6 Filmography
7 Books and videos authored
8 See also
9 External links
- 9.1 Videos

[edit] Biography

Born in Tilburg, the Netherlands, Bas Rutten became interested in martial arts when he was 14 after watching Enter the Dragon, taking up Tae Kwon Do and getting his black belt in TKD in a year. He eventually got his 2nd Dan in Tae Kwon Do, then he trained in Kyokushin Karate, where he competed in bareknuckle full contact karate tournaments. At the age of 20 he started competing in Thai boxing, going undefeated. Although he credits Kyokushin karate as the base of his striking skills, starting as a striker and later learning submission fighting, Rutten implemented a well balanced mixture of many techniques.

Bas Rutten calls himself "El Guapo" (Spanish for "The Handsome One"). This nickname was given to him by his wife. It is the name of the villain in the movie "The Three Amigos". In his fights, Bas' "trademark" was delivering punches and kicks to the liver of his opponents. In his "Bas Rutten's Big DVDs of Combat" Bas refers to this as a "liver shot". Bas is also known for his characteristic "Rutten Jump," which he performed in the ring every time he won a fight, resembling a jumping split.

[edit] Pancrase

Bas began his professional mixed martial arts career with the upstart Japanese fighting organization, Pancrase. In 1993, Japanese pro wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki traveled to Holland to scout fighters for their new "hybrid wrestling" organization, featuring submission fighting, but with no closed fisted strikes to the face. A precursor to what would become modern mixed martial arts, the organization was the first of its kind, and featured such early MMA names as Frank Shamrock, Vernon White, Maurice Smith, Ken Shamrock, and Guy Mezger.

His lack (at that time) of ground-fighting experience leading to early defeats at the hands of Masakatsu Funaki and the then "King of Pancrase" Ken Shamrock, and more controversially losing to Frank Shamrock by way of a split judge's decision, Bas would come back in 1995 and be dealt another loss from Ken Shamrock, but would go on to beat the previously undefeated Minoru Suzuki and win his first "King of Pancrase" title. Avenging his losses to both Frank Shamrock and Masakatsu Funaki in 1996, he went on to defeat both Jason Delucia and Guy Mezger and in so doing became a three time "King of Pancrase." In 1996, he relinquished his title, in order to be present for the birth of his first daughter. [1] Bas returned to Pancrase, taking 8 more victories, bringing his winning streak up to 19 straight fights.

Bas Rutten throwing a punch at Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, UFC 18

[edit] UFC

In 1998, Bas signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the biggest MMA promotion in the United States. His first fight in the UFC was against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at UFC 18, which Bas won by KO. Next he faced Kevin Randleman for the UFC Heavyweight Champion at UFC 20, this fight went into overtime, with Bas taking a close decision victory to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Bas vacated the title later in the year, in order to drop down to middleweight (his natural weight class), and try to become the first person to hold a UFC title in two weight classes.[2]

While training for his next UFC fight in 1999, Bas suffered multiple serious injuries, including blowing out his knee (a long running injury), and tearing his biceps. Bas was forced to retire from MMA competition for the time being, by doctors orders.[3]

[edit] Retirement

After his retirement from fighting in 1999, Bas focused on becoming an actor, getting small parts on TV shows such as "Martial Law", "18 Wheels of Justice", "The King of Queens", and the Canadian series "Freedom", as well as appearing in low budget movies such as Shadow Fury, The Eliminator, and the comedy short "The Kingdom of Ultimate Power" which was featured in the 2005 L.A. Film Festival.

The Eliminator, 2004

Bas was also the color commentator for the English productions of PRIDE Fighting Championships events, calling nearly every event from PRIDE 1 through the 2005 Grand Prix. Known for his sense of humor and first hand knowledge of the sport, Bas quickly become a fan favorite commentator. In April of 2006 Bas announced that he would not continue to announce for PRIDE, due to the pressure of constantly flying to Japan, and being away from his family every month.[4] He handed off commentating duties to fighter Frank Trigg.

In 2006 Bas was tapped to coach a team for the new International Fight League, an MMA organization that focuses on team combat. His team, the Anacondas, were defeated by the Silverbacks 4-1, with the only win coming from Alex Schoenauer (a participant from The Ultimate Fighter Season 1).

[edit] Return to MMA

In May of 2006, Bas announced his return to MMA competition. Cleared by doctors to fight again, Bas was slated to face Kimo Leopoldo in the now defunct World Fighting Alliance on July 22, 2006 at The Forum in Los Angeles. But just two days before the event, Kimo tested positive for Stanozolol, a form of anabolic steroids. In place of Kimo, Bas fought Ruben "Warpath" Villareal. Bas took a first round victory by way of technical knockout out after low kicks left his opponent unable to stand.

Aside from training for his upcoming fights, Bas teaches martial arts seminars, and is the author of instructional books and DVDs. Kevin James mentioned training with Bas in an interview. He currently lives and trains in Los Angeles. He and his wife Karin have three daughters.

Bas has recently announced that he is teaming up with UFC legend Randy Couture in starting up a brand new fight-gym in Hollywood, called "Legends Mixed Martial Arts Training Center", where you can train Mixed Martial Arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and Boxing. Besides Bas and Randy, several other well known instructors and pro-fighters will be teaching there, including: Karo Parisyan, Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Eddie Bravo.[5]

Rutten, like other shoot fighters in the past, has been contacted by World Wrestling Entertainment with potential contract offers. While potentially lucrative, Rutten has declined such offers as they would require him to be on the road 200 days a year.

[edit] Record

Muay Thai (The Netherlands - pre 1993)
- Wins: 14 KOs
- Entire Muay Thai career record: 14-1

Mixed Martial Arts (Japan and USA - 1993 to 2006)
- Wins: 12 (T)KOs - 13 Submission - 3 Decisions
- Losses: 3 Submission - 1 Decision
- Entire MMA career record: 28-4-1

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round, Time	Notes
Win	Ruben Villareal	KO (Leg Kicks)	WFA-King of the Streets	7/22/2006	1 3:24
Win	Kevin Randleman	Decision	UFC 20-Battle for the Gold	5/7/1999	1 21:00	wins UFC heavyweight championship and retires due to injury
Win	Tsuyoshi Kohsaka	KO	UFC 18-Road to the Heavyweight Title	1/8/1999	1 14:15
Win	Kengo Watanabe	TKO (Lost Points)	Pancrase-1998 Anniversary Show	9/14/1998	1 2:58
Win	Keiichiro Yamamiya	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	Pancrase-Alive 11	12/20/1997	1 4:58
Win	Osami Shibuya	Submission (Body Crunch)	Pancrase-1997 Anniversary Show	9/6/1997	1 3:15
Win	Takaku Fuke	Submission	Pancrase-Alive 7	6/30/1997	1 4:28
Win	Kiuma Kunioku	Decision (Lost Points)	Pancrase-Alive 4	4/27/1997	1 15:00
Draw	Osami Shibuya	Draw	Pancrase-Alive 3	3/22/1997	1 15:00
Win	Ruben Peralta	Lost by points	Pancrase-Truth 7	10/8/1996	1 0:54
Win	Masakatsu Funaki	TKO (Lost Points)	Pancrase-1996 Anniversary Show	9/7/1996	1 17:05
Win	Jason Delucia	TKO	Pancrase-Truth 6	6/25/1996	1 8:48
Win	Frank Shamrock	TKO (Cut)	Pancrase-Truth 5	5/16/1996	1 11:11
Win	Katsuomi Inagaki	TKO (Lost Points)	Pancrase-Truth 4	4/8/1996	1 14:07
Win	Guy Mezger	Submission	Pancrase-Truth 2	3/2/1996	1 19:36
Win	Ryushi Yanagisawa	Submission (Choke)	Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 7	12/14/1995	1 27:35
Win	Maurice Smith	Submission (Choke)	Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 6	11/4/1995	1 4:34
Win	Minoru Suzuki	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	Pancrase-1995 Anniversary Show	9/1/1995	1 15:35
Win	Frank Shamrock	Decision (Split)	Pancrase-1995 Neo-Blood Tournament, Round 2	7/23/1995	1 15:00
Win	Jason Delucia	Submission	Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 5	6/13/1995	1 1:32
Win	Maurice Smith	Submission (Kneebar)	Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 4	5/13/1995	1 2:10
Win	Takaku Fuke	Submission	Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 3	4/8/1995	1 1:52
Loss	Ken Shamrock	Submission (Kneebar)	Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 2	3/10/1995	1 1:01
Win	Manabu Yamada	TKO (Strikes)	Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 1	1/26/1995	1 1:05
Loss	Frank Shamrock	Decision (Majority)	Pancrase-King of Pancrase Tournament, Round 1	12/16/1994	1 10:00
Win	Jason Delucia	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	Pancrase-Road To The Championship 5	10/15/1994	1 1:43
Loss	Ken Shamrock	Submission	Pancrase-Road To The Championship 3	7/26/1994	1 16:42
Win	Minoru Suzuki	KO	Pancrase-Road To The Championship 2	7/6/1994	1 3:43
Win	Yoshiki Takahashi	TKO	Pancrase-Road To The Championship 1	5/31/1994	1 1:37
Win	Vernon White	Submission	Pancrase-Pancrash! 3	4/21/1994	1 1:16
Loss	Masakatsu Funaki	Submission (Toehold)	Pancrase-Pancrash! 1	1/19/1994	1 2:58
Win	Takaku Fuke	KO	Pancrase-Yes, We are Hybrid Wrestlers 2	10/14/1993	1 2:03
Win	Ryushi Yanagisawa	KO	Pancrase-Yes, We are Hybrid Wrestlers 1	9/21/1993	1 0:43

[edit] Personal Life

Rutten has a wife named Karin and together they have two children, Rachel (pronounced like Rah-shell) and Sabine (pronounced like Sa-been-ah).

[edit] Trivia

Concerned that he might exhaust himself prematurely during his first Pancrase fight, Bas drew a large letter "R" on the back of each hand before going into the ring. The "R's" stood for "rustig" (Dutch for calm) and were intended as a reminder to pace himself. The measure proved to be unnecessary on that occasion when Rutten achieved a win by way of knockout in forty-three seconds (comparatively little of that time representing live fighting time), but he would go on to use the same aide de-memoir in several later matches.

In his spare time he enjoys playing the drums.

He has turricephaly (high-head syndrome) and brachycephaly (flat-head syndrome). However, this does not affect his fighting abilities.

[edit] Quotes

The following quotes were taken from Bas Rutten's Lethal Street Fighting (2003).

"WHAM! This way - you can give him something to think about... for five or six months."

"I don't believe in an eye for an eye. I believe in two eyes for an eye. But that's just me."

"We can actually hip throw him to the side, he goes to the ground, we choke him out, and then once he's choked out we can do games like 'pull the pants down and hide the spice bottle'; it's a fun thing to do! And it will get a lot of laugh out of a lot of people!"

"They say the only way to kill a lion is with a rear naked choke. I would just kick it in the head."

"So I thought, "Let's throw him through the window." I went "WAAAANG" and he went to the hospital to get some stitches, but like I said, when he came back we were old friends again!"

"Smack his face into the ambiance!"

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm going to break your leg."

"Bang! Bahng! Boom! Dangida Dangida Dang! Boong!" (colorful words used to describe 'hits' in a much distributed video online)

"OOOOOHHHHH that is gonna hurt him!"

"Everybody underestimates the kick to the groin."

"Right away you say, 'OK I'm sorry... Bang! Bang! Bang! No I'm not!'"

"Wrong move! Don't do this to El Guapo!"

" *while banging a guy's head on the bar table* "don't choo..evar..do diss again."

"Look sir, I really don't want anything of this and I go 'WHOOP' like this and I slit your throat, and it's over and out"

"And I can stab his own knife here in the liver... stab in the liver"

"Because he tried to kill me, so I got to return the favor"

[edit] Filmography

Shadow of the Dragon (1992) [6]
Shadow Fury (2001) [7]
The Eliminator (2004) [8]
The Vault (2005) [9]
The Kingdom of Ultimate Power (2005) [10]
Backlash (2006) [11]

[edit] Books and videos authored

Bas Rutten's Big Book of Combat, Volumes One and Two (2002)
Bas Rutten's Big DVD's of Combat (7 DVD set)
Bas Rutten's Lethal Street Fighting (2003)
The Bas Rutten MMA Workout (4 audio CD's and 1 DVD)
Bas Rutten's Superior Free Fight Techniques

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Videos

Previous champion
Randy Couture

4th UFC Heavyweight Champion

May 7, 1999 - stripped

Next champion
Kevin Randleman

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