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Up close and personal with Bas Rutten
by Hody Jae Huh
Bas Rutten needs no introduction. Any hard-core MMA fan knows or at least has seen him fight. We all know that Pride keeps  him busy doing the color commentary for the fights, but what else is Bas up to these days? What does he think of the new breed of fighters? Read on and find out.
IRONLIFE.COM: What's new with you, both professionally and personally?
BAS: My youngest daughter turned three on the 17th of March. I am working on some movie ideas that are going around. The website is doing great. I am home for a while so that is also unbelievable; normally I would travel all the time. I am doing some seminars starting the 25th of this month (March) and I am recovering from a snowboarding accident, broke two ribs, hurt my knee and shoulder.
IRONLIFE.COM: You have quite an impressive fight record with only a few loses. How does a fighter, such as yourself, deal with a lose after being accustomed to winning all the time? Which lose affected you the most? Also, was there a win that meant the most to you and why?
BAS: I lost a fight early in my career and I knew why -- I didn't have any grappling experience. So after the last time that I lost (to Ken Shamrock), I told myself to start training two times a day ONLY submissions. I never lost anymore after that. So you actually learn a lot from the fight that you lose, that is, if you are smart. I mean, if you lose by an arm-bar, it would not be smart to loose again the same way, now would it? I would train so hard so that wouldn't happen again. So the last fight against Ken Shamrock, which I lost, was the fight that affected me the most, but for the better.
The most important fight that I won was my second fight against Funaki, because he beat me in our first meeting, and I wanted revenge!
IRONLIFE.COM: Who was your toughest opponent thus far?
BAS: I think Funaki, I mean, I give him like 3 or 4 standing 8 counts and he kept coming back until the last knee to his head which kept him on the canvas. After the fight, my knees and palms where black from hitting him. THAT's how hard I hit him, and he kept standing up, it was crazy. (In the early days of Pancrase they fought with open hand strikes, no closed fists or MMA style gloves)
IRONLIFE.COM: You've retired from fighting but when I saw you at the last Pride event (Pride 27 in Osaka), you looked like you were in great shape. What do you do to keep in shape? How far off from fighting shape are you now?
BAS: Right now with the injuries, I am far away from fighting shape. Normally I do my Bas Rutten MMA workout here next to my house in combination with running a hill. It's a killer! I also like the row machine at the 24 hour fitness here where I train, makes me really tired! When I do power training I use a lot of cable machines just for punching.
IRONLIFE.COM: Do you still train with and help prepare some of the top fighters? If so, does that spark any desires to come out of retirement?
BAS: I still train top guys and I still never tap or get downed with a punch, but thank God it's the other way around. They are always asking me after the training why I wouldn't get back into the ring.
So the sparks are always there, but if you really look at it; In training when I tap somebody or give him a liver shot (I don't like to KO people to the head, it's a bad thing to do), I can take a little break. In a fight, when I fight a 25 year old guy who's in a phenomenal shape and he doesn't go down or escapes the submission, I have to keep fighting. And I think that age is going to play a big factor then. Training and fighting, two different things…
IRONLIFE.COM: Why did you decide to retire? What would it take to get you back into the ring? IE .. They offered you a fight with fighter "X" or threw some serious money at you.
BAS: I tore my biceps, blew out my knee, had a real bad neck injury from already before the Kohsaka (TK) fight, and I kept training with it so it became worse. So that was the reason that I stopped. I also didn't lose in like 21 or 22 fights in a row, so I thought it was a good time to stop.
Hey, you never know, if there will be BIG money, and the opponent would be close to my age, who knows. Right now, my managers don't really want me to fight since the acting is taking off, and hopefully that will get better and better.
IRONLIFE.COM: If you hadn't gone into marital arts and became a pro fighter, what do you think you would've done?
BAS: A cook, I am a professional cook (French cuisine). I have all my papers to open a restaurant. I also really like to make like trailers for movies, I think I would have gone to school for that, because I think that is just awesome to do.
IRONLIFE.COM: You have a lot of great quotes on your site (www.basrutten.tv). You even suggest that everyone read their favorite quotes daily. If you had to pick one quote, what would it be and why is it so important to you?
BAS: "What a good life", sometimes I forget this one if I have to work really hard to pay all the bills. But waking up, pretty much with always good weather, a beautiful wife and beautiful children, man, nothing beats that!
IRONLIFE.COM: Please describe a typical day in the life of Bas Rutten.
BAS: Wake up and eat my Oatmeal (very good for you), check my emails, then normally, when I am NOT injured like now, I would do my Bas Rutten Workout together with running the hill, come back and sit down a little bit with my youngest daughter and play with her (she doesn't go to school yet). Then when a fighter wants to train, I go and help him out. Answering questions from people on the Sherdog forum, if I have the time for it. Go to meetings that my managers set up for me.
A couple of days a week I pick up my daughter from school (the 7 year old) and then she has to do her homework. Help my wife out a little bit with the mess that the kids make, and believe me, they make a mess! Have dinner all together and then hopefully the kids go to sleep early so that I have some time with my wife, but most of the time, that won't happen. Then we go to sleep. Next day, same thing. I also do a lot of seminars, and then of course the Pride and the Bushido shows. So I am traveling a LOT!
IRONLIFE.COM: What do you like to do in your down/free time? Do you have any talents/hobbies that aren't fighting related?
BAS: Water-skiing, snowboarding, flying with my kit, not, not the kite you think, mine is 20 feet big. If there is good wind I make 30 yard jumps about ten feet high, it's quite a rush and very good for your conditioning. I play the drums, make some music for fun (check out on my website, you can download it, and I wrote it all), cooking, many things, and of course there is the partying.
IRONLIFE.COM: What New Years resolutions did you make for 2004 and are you on track with those?
BAS: Don't party as much as I did, I really slowed down like 80%, no more tequila for Bas, that one I already did for like 8 months, stick with one sort of alcohol, just beer or wine, and I will be fine. Make more time for the family. I think I am all on track with all of them.
IRONLIFE.COM: Which fighter impresses you the most right now and why?
BAS: Mirko Cro Cop, Vanderlei Silva, Nogueria, Fedor, Quinton Jackson, BJ Penn, man, I can go on and on, there are so many good fighters right now, I stop because I am afraid to forget a good friend. I would say that Vanderlei is on top of his game right now.
Big props to Randy Couture though, what a guy!
IRONLIFE.COM: In the "Smashing Machine" we saw you help Mark Kerr with his training. Did you help Mark train for the last Pride (Pride 27)? What were your initial thoughts/reactions on how the fight went?
BAS: No I did not help him. I think that it was very bad luck for him. He should straighten himself totally out, go to a place like Mammoth (not Big Bear where everybody is) and train with a few good fighters, he's got everything to be good as a fighter, only his head needs to be clear.
IRONLIFE.COM: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. Are there any last words you would like to say, or some people/sponsors that you would like to plug?
BAS: No problem, I would like to thank all the MMA fans, if I see them and realize how much they still know me, it's kind of unreal, really cool. Keep sticking to the sport and make sure it gets bigger and bigger.
Oh, and normally I would ask that if you see me, buy me a tequila shot. Now I will ask you NOT to do it, a beer would be fine, Heineken if it's possible. And remember boys and girls, El Guapo says: "always use a condom!!"
I would like to thank Bas for taking time out of his busy schedule to do this interview and also Tony who runs Bas' site for helping me out. Bas is a great spokesman for MMA/NHB. I wish him and his family all the best. For those of you interested in Bas or would like to purchase some of his merchandise, please visit his site at
As some of you might know, I try to give-away autographed pictures of the pro fighters that I interview. Any active member is eligible. Membership to the site is free. Please look inside the MMA forum for further details.
Hody
* Article by Hody Jae Huh.
* Back to Issue #7 Frontpage
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