Bas Rutten: Barnett a liability
Once a year, PDG talks with Legendary Fighter and Analyst El Guapo Bas Rutten and asks him questions regarding the…
Once a year, PDG talks with Legendary Fighter and Analyst El Guapo Bas Rutten and asks him questions regarding the world of mixed martial arts and what his personal opinions are in regards to the year of fighting in review. The following is Part III of a great series of interviews involving the former King of Pancrase, the host of HDNet’s Inside MMA, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and the man well regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists to enter a cage or ring.
PDG: Compared to our interview just about a year ago; how do you think the mixed martial arts industry has changed as far as a mainstream sport? Do you think it has gone up, stayed the same or gone down?
Bas Rutten: I think it is doing really good. There is a lot more mixed martial arts being televised and I believe that the talent of the fighters has improved, they are in better shape, they have better technique and the only exception I can think of would be this latest season of the Ultimate Fighter where the fighters were getting tired after one round. I was thinking what are you doing? Getting in better shape and having good cardio should be something that every fighter is working on. It’s ridiculous because if you get paid to fight….then you shouldn’t be getting tired after one round. It is amazing that that still happens but for the most part fighters are getting better at technique, stamina and execution. So the sport you are seeing now is definitely better than a year ago.
PDG: Whenever we talk, you always seem to have multiple projects going on at the same time; what are some of the things you were working on right now?
Bas Rutten: I just finished up a project with the Cartoon Network where I am basically the fitness guru there, a so-called health expert there, how funny is that?
PDG: Earlier you mentioned the Strikeforce show on CBS featuring Fedor vs. Brett Rogers. When you watched the main event did you get the impression that Fedor was still at the top of his game or do you think he has slowed down a bit?
Bas Rutten: Fedor seems to always do that in the first round of his fights and then he just adapts going forward in the fight. When you watch him fight he doesn’t have the greatest technique and nobody can tell me that he has good technique because it’s not. He strikes from very weird angles and that’s why he is always breaking his hand. This time it was his thumb and it’s because he hits the wrong way. But when he connects he does a lot of damage and he has a good ground game and when you put the whole package together he looks really good. I thought he looked really sloppy though on the ground in his fight against Rogers and there were a couple of times where I thought he was going to go for submission and there was a perfect opportunity for him to get a toehold. Even though he looked sloppy it was almost like he was doing it on purpose to get his opponent comfortable and then boom there it is. You never know what is going on in the mind of this guy, he is a freak and when I say freak I mean it in a good way. Nobody can deny how good of a fighter he is and for me he is the number one heavyweight in the world and if you look at his record it is impossible to argue that point.
PDG: You and Kenny Rice talked about it on Inside MMA but how disappointing was it for you that the mega-fight between Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko didn’t happen back in August?
Bas Rutten: Yeah it was very disappointing and it is a shame that stuff like that still happens. I just can’t believe it and the things you hear about these days with athletes, it’s just not like the old days anymore. Why are they taking all of these things? When I was fighting I didn’t even take supplements. I only took Q10 and if I trained really hard I would take a protein shake. Other than that I wasn’t putting anything into my body unless I was injured and the doctor gave me a lidocaine shot, which I later found out was not a good idea because it had lasting side effects. So if I knew what I know now back then I wouldn’t even have allowed that. Let me say this….if you are injured don’t fight; you need to be at 100% or you are going to regret it later in life. It is easier said than done and there were several fights in my career where I did not follow that advice and it took me several years to recover from those injuries. So don’t do that boys and girls.
PDG: So do you think the fans will ever get to see Josh Barnett fight Fedor Emelianenko?
Bas Rutten: I don’t think it is going to happen and if it happens it will be in Japan. I think that Josh is going to have a very difficult time getting another fight in the United States. Who is going to take the risk to promote that fight with the liabilities from his past that he would bring if he was put into a main event again. It’s like the actors that get banged up on drugs and alcohol; they become liabilities and can cause a whole movie production to go down the drain. So you see them less and less involved in the industry because nobody wants to work with them. It’s a shame.
PDG: Another actor/mixed martial artist has been rumored to be making his K-1 debut in 2010. Supposedly Jean-Claude Van Damme wants to get in the ring; what are your thoughts on that?
Bas Rutten: I don’t have any information on that but I would be super amazed if that happens. I hear from a lot of people that he still has a huge drug problem and he would definitely need to shake that off first. I want to be clear that this is all hearsay and it’s not that Bas has ever seen him do any kind of drugs. I was on an airplane talking to a producer a couple of weeks ago when I was returning from working on the new EA Sports MMA Game and he told me that he met Van Damme who told him that he was clean but that he certainly didn’t look clean. So that would be a very dangerous thing for him to go in the ring like that because a very bad accident can happen. Especially if he goes to K-1 and fights a Peter Aerts or someone, it is going to be over very quick and it could be very dangerous for Van Damme. Those kickboxing guys are no joke and come on what is he like 50 now? If he does it, win or lose I will have respect for him for stepping inside that ring.
PDG: Let’s get back to the real cage. Your former student Kimbo Slice recently defeated Houston Alexander at the Ultimate Fighter Finale; what did you think of his performance and the way your relationship ended?
Bas Rutten: I wouldn’t say that it was a bad breakup, things can always get out of hand in the media but when he said that he wished Bas would have came to him, I did that and I gave him a 10 1/2 minute speech on how I felt about his progress as a fighter and he knows that. Everything is cool now. As far as his fight goes, the thing that I think hurt him the most was the cutting weight. And I think that was a big factor in the fight because they didn’t throw a lot of punches in the first round and yet they were both still gassed.
PDG: Do you think that Kimbo has a future in the UFC?
Bas Rutten: It will be very hard for him.
PDG: Besides your work on Inside MMA, the Cartoon Network and the EA video game; what other projects you have coming up in the near future?
Bas Rutten: I am coming out with an invention that is going to be really cool but I can’t give away the information on it quite yet because we just obtained the patent and we are getting ready to go into production. Everybody is going to use this new invention and if they don’t and their opponent does they are going to be in real trouble. That is going to be my tagline for this new product for all athletes You better be using this because if you don’t your opponent will and you will lose the stamina battle. It is a real cool idea that I came up with a long time ago and there is nothing else like it out on the market and I have the patent. In addition to that, the B.A.S. (Body Action System) has been doing good and it is only going to get better now that we have all of the production of the product in one factory. It has been in constant development for the past two years because I am not about to have a product out there with my name on it that doesn’t meet high quality standards. I am also doing something new with the Tokyo Five clothing brand and then also working on some other television projects and a book. The book is going to be fiction and will involve some real stories but it is not the story of my life. It is going to be something cool like Bas Rutten – Detective….wait that’s not very cool, its going to be something that is cool. One other thing that I’m really looking forward to is this reality show in Holland called Reunion which is in its 10th season and they are going to do a show on me since I am the only European UFC heavyweight champion and it is going to be awesome because I was picked on as a kid because I had eczema and now I will get to see those classmates that used to bully me. I’m going to have a great time filming that. My list is long with things I have coming up but I am most excited about my new invention and I think this is really going to be it.
