Bas: Conor McGregor holds all the cards now

UFC Hall of Famer Bas Rutten appeared recently on Submission Radio for a wide-ranging interview that covered some of the biggest stories in the sport.

Bas boycotted RIZIN, as did Mauro Ranallo.

No, we didn’t watch it,” he said. “I heard about it, I didn’t watch it. You know, both Mauro and I both boycotted, I guess because there’s one person involved there in that organization that we really don’t like. But you know, power to them if they can do another show. I didn’t hear great things about it and I figured, you know what, nah I’m not going to watch it.

The one person is Jerry Millen.

Should UFC president Dana White offer Fedor a better deal to come to the UFC?

No,” said Bas. “If Fedor would beat like two really good guys now, yeah, then he can do it. But otherwise, why would he do it? He lost against Dan Henderson, against Bigfoot, and Werdum – who’s the champion right now – so he lost a lot of negotiating power.

He’s still an unbelievable fighter, but yeah, negotiating power, he lost it right there.

Is Miesha Tate more dangerous to Holly Holm in certain areas than is Ronda Rousey, as coach Wink suggested?

No, I don’t agree,” said Bas. “I do think though, that with [Tate’s] wrestling, with single-leg and double-leg takedowns – because they shoot lower than Ronda, you know, up for the clinch. And then pretty much Judo throws are like a Greco Roman kind of style – I think that wrestling is a better approach, yeah indeed, to face Holm. That’s what I said after the fight with Ronda Rousey. It would be smart if she – and she already knows, I guarantee you that – some double and single-legs. That’d be really good for her to add to her repertoire, because that’s something that she didn’t do before.

“Now with the footwork, yeah I don’t know. Now Tate knows the footwork, and you gotta stay on your toes. Because Tate is also, when I see her, because of the wrestling, they have like the flatter feet – especially in her last fight – but she knows this now, so you’re probably going to see Tate on the balls of her feet, moving in and out and just waiting. I wouldn’t start chasing. People know that that’s not a good idea. If you chase, well make sure that it’s close somewhere to the cage. Then again, Holm has great footwork, she cuts angles.

“But if somebody could take her down, that could be Tate. Yeah, without the clinch for the double or single-leg, that’s the thing. And Tate’s got some power in her hands, but I think that Ronda had more power in her striking, in the single punches that she has.

Is UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos the right next fight for featherweight champion Conor McGregor?

He’s grabbing high man,” said Rutten. “If he goes for something he’s going for the stars, because Dos Anjos, he’s a really tough guy. You know, I didn’t see it coming that he would beat Pettis. And once he did that, I went ‘whoooaaah’. And then against Cerrone – who was on a roll and just terrorized everybody – and then just knocking him out. Woo. You know, that’s going to be a very hard guy to beat.

“And on the other side, you’re gonna have a very confident guy coming in, who fights a weight class higher now. So he’s going to feel stronger, because the last time you saw McGregor fight, he was really dehydrated. I mean, if you would have seen him on the street on the day of the weigh-in, I don’t think I would have recognized him. He was SO…dry so to say. And so I think this will actually help McGregor, it will make him a stronger fighter.

“And then we’re going on to see, but can he deal with the constant pressure of Rafael Dos Anjos? Because he will be in your face the whole time, and that’s why he beat Pettis, and that’s – probably he’s going to do the same [to Conor], and he has got the stamina to back it up for five rounds. If McGregor wins this thing…man, that will be….that will be something. Well it’s never been done before, we all know that. And especially, you know, he predicts everything, so I wonder what he’s going to predict for this fight – what round and how.

Bas ended with the question that could define 2016. Is Conor McGregor going to be the fighter that breaks through and co-promotes?

I do believe that he holds all the cards now,” said Bas. “He’s so…everybody wants to see him. Whether you want to see him win or lose, it doesn’t matter, you want to see him. And I don’t know, what were the pay-per-view buys in the last show? I never got that. Did you guys get the numbers?”

Submission Radio explained that Dave Meltzer estimated between 1.1-1.2 million on McGregor’s last PPV.

“You see, so we’re talking about like four, five hundred-thousand more pay-per-view buys than a normal show will have – lately then, right?” said Rutten. “Because in the early days we had shows [which drew] 1.3, 1.6 actually, and 1.1. I think those are the records – but I think McGregor, if he fights against Rafael Dos Anjos, the way he promotes it, that could be a 1.5, 1.6, it could break the records.

“And why not tell, as a fighter, say ‘okay normally you get like four bucks or three seventy-five per pay-per-view buy’ – I don’t know what the contract says – ‘but he can say okay, what about once we go past 1.2 million, everything after that I just want half’. You know? And they’re going to be stupid to say no. Because if they say no, they’re going to miss out on all that money. If they say yes, it’s going to great for them and it’s going to be great for McGregor, and that will open barriers also for bigger paydays.

“But then now also everybody has the blueprint of McGregor. I heard Diaz saying – Nate – he said ‘yeah we kind of gave him the blueprint, the way he presents himself’. That’s absolutely not true. He doesn’t use any profanity, he’s very smart in everything that he’s saying, and the way he’s attacking, he’s doing it completely different and he’s doing it very smart. And I think more fighters should start taking a look at that and say ‘hey, wait a minute, yes it’s a fight and I understand that, but if you wanna make more money, well you’re going to have to tone it up a little bit.