FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Interviews MMATorch Interview (exclusive): Bas Rutten talks about evolution of MMA, turning points, his career choices, judging rules, more

Mar 12, 2010 - 12:39:56 PM

The following is MMATorch columnist Jason Schiekle's exclusive one-on-one interview with Bas Rutten conducted in February 2010. Rutten is a three-time King of Pancase and UFC Hvt. Champion, with top wins against Frank Shamrock (twice), Kevin Randleman, Maurice Smith, Masa Funaki, and Guy Metzger. Born in Tiburg, Netherlands, he now lives in California. He retired in 1999 as a result of serious injuries in training to his knee and a serious bicep tair. He has moved on to author books on MMA, comment for Pride and Inside MMA, and more. Check out his website at www.basrutte.com.

Jason Schiekle: How were you first exposed to (MMA, NHB fighting, Pancrase), and what was was your first impression of it?

Bas Rutten: I fought September 1992 in Japan for Pancrase's first show, Ken Shamrock was fighting also and he was telling me about the UFC and that he was going to do it a month later. No rules and anything goes, is what he said, I asked him if he thought that it would be a smart thing to do? Since there are always assholes who knock you out but then give you a few more shots, and of there is no ref, who's gonna stop them? Later in Holland I saw an illegal copy of the UFC and saw the teeth fling into the audience, wow, I thought it was nuts. They need referees I said, then it's OK, the rules are tough, but I can live with that. No one to step in when something goes bad, that's just asking for trouble.

Schiekle: What made you decide to leave Thai Boxing to pursue a career in Pancrase?

Rutten: Losing my last Thai boxing match and hearing people say that they always thought I couldn't fight, that made me decide never to fight in Holland again. They forgot about my first 14 KOs, but that's typical I guess, you are only as good as your last fight, its sad though.

Schiekle: I remember when watching my DVD collection of your fights, you said after your second loss to Ken Shamrock that you decided that you weren't going to lose anymore, and you didn't. You then went on to become King of Pancrase. Why did you decide to leave Japan, when many top American fighters were going over there to continue their career's, during the peak of your career to fight in America?

Rutten: My wife was pregnant and got a poisoning. She AND the baby could die, so it was serious. Pancrase called me and told me and told me that I had to defend my title in December. I told them that I was going to stay home with my wife, they told me that if I would do that I they would strip me from the belt. I told them that wasn't a problem. I didn't say it that nice, though (laughs). It was a good decision; my daughter got born a week later and she was 7 weeks premature, only 2 pounds.

Schiekle: When you fought for the UFC, the sport was still two years away from returning to pay-per-view. Did you believe the sport could survive in the state it was in when you entered into it?

Rutten: Yes I did, and there were still a whole bunch of cable companies carrying it. I always thought that MMA would be HUGE, I even said it in my first interview after my first fight in Japan. I said that this, we called it "free fighting" at the time, was in four years from that date going to be the biggest thing. I was off about seven years, but it DID come true.

Schiekle: What do you believe contributed the most to the explosion in popularity of the sport (besides InsideMMA, of course)?

Rutten: The Ultimate Fighter, that was smart. Boxing had "The Contender," but a bunch of MMA fighters in a house with an open bar? Who doesn't wanna see that? There, the people at home got to see that there is more to MMA then just two guys in a cage beating each other up. That's the reason MMA got huge and because of that we now have a great show on TV called Inside MMA, haha

Schiekle: As the sport moves forward and continues to evolve, do you believe
that any changes to the unified rules or weight classes need to be made?

Rutten: I would love to have another weight class, 205 till 235. I would also love to see “instant replay” so that we can see a replay BEFORE the referee makes a decision. The judging can be better, John McCarthy has a better system for that and I think that the referees and judges need to be certified so that we don't see those crazy decisions anymore.

Schiekle: Currently, the major promotions operate under a "professional wrestling" style business model. Will there become a time where organizations will have to open up to cross-promotion in order for the sport to continue growing it's fan base?

Rutten: Yes it will. Right now the UFC is the "main man," so to say, head and shoulders above everyone else, StrikeForce is coming up. There will probably come another show, then, hopefully, the other two shows will become huge, also. Once that happens and we have three great organizations just like in Boxing, if that's the case, then there will come a time for cross-promotion. That's a couple of years away though, hopefully, could be longer.

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Are there any fighters that you would like to ask a question? I'm relentless when it comes to getting interviews, so send you suggestions to JasonSchielke@gmail.com or post them on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mmatorch) and I'll do my best to make it happen!

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