Bas Rutten

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Pancrase
3 UFC
4 Retirement
5 Comeback
6 Commentary
7 Mixed martial arts record
8 Gallery
9 External Links

Profile

Bas "El Guapo" Rutten (born February 24, 1965) is a retired Dutch mixed martial artist, and active MMA commentator and media personality.

He stands 6 ft. 1 in. (185 cm) tall and fought in the heavyweight division.

He is a former Open Weight King of Pancrase and UFC heavyweight champion. He was a longtime commentator for the PRIDE Fighting Championships and currently hosts Inside MMA on HD Net alongside Kenny Rice.

His nickname "El Guapo" is Spanish for "The Handsome One".

Pancrase

Bas Rutten made his professional mixed martial arts debut at the first ever event put on by the Japanese based promotion, Pancrase. Rutten entered the sport after having goin 14-1 with 14 knockouts in Thai Boxing. The event, entitled Pancrase: Yes, We are Hybrid Wrestlers, took place on September 21, 1993 and Rutten faced off against Japanese fighter, Ryushi Yanagisawa who he managed to KO in 43 seconds.

Pancrase only allowed its fighters to strike with an open palm on the feet but nevertheless Rutten managed to KO his next opponent as well, Takaku Fuke, in just over two minutes.

In January of 1994, Rutten learned of the need to be well rounded in MMA the hard way as he was submitted by Pancrase founder, Masakatsu Funaki by toehold in just under three minutes.

Rutten got a submission of his own in his next fight as he disposed of Lions Den fighter, Vernon White in a little over a minute. That win was followed by two (T)KOs over two Japanese fighters in Kazuo Takahashi and Minoru Suzuki.

In July of 1994, Rutten faced off against King of Pancrase, Ken Shamrock in a bout for the title. In a fight that went just under 17 minutes straight, Rutten was eventually caught in a kneebar by Shamrock and tapped out.

A renewed focus on his ground game translated in a guillotine choke victory over Jason Delucia in his next fight before going down to Ken's adopted brother, Frank Shamrock in December of 1994 by decision.

After another win, Rutten got another crack at Ken Shamrock but disappointingly got caught early in yet another kneebar and tapped out just over a minute in.

The second loss to Shamrock was followed by three straight submission wins that highlighted his ever improving ground game. The list included, Japanese fighter, Takaku Fuke, future UFC heavyweight champion, Maurice Smith and Jason Delucia for a second time.

Rutten avenged his loss to Frank Shamrock in his next bout with a majority decision before earning himself the open weight King of Pancrase title with a guillotine choke over the man he KO'd earlier in his career, Minoru Suzuki.

Rutten held the title until October of 1996 when he vacated it to be at home for the birth of his second daughter. His title reign included another submission win over Maurice Smith, a submission win over Lions Den standout Guy Mezger, a cut stoppage victory over Frank Shamrock and TKO over another man who had beaten him in Masakatsu Funaki.

Rutten returned to Pancrase in March of 1997 where he drew with Osami Shibuya after 15 minutes. Apart from the draw, Rutten continued on his winning ways, with five straight victories including a victory over Shibuya to mark his end in Pancrase.

UFC

Riding an unbeaten streak that dated back to March of 1995, Rutten entered the UFC Octagon on January 8th, 1999 at UFC 18 against Japanese fighter, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in a fight for a place in a vacant title match to be held at UFC 20.

Kohsaka controlled the early portion of the fight and looked to be on his way to an upset decision victory, but Rutten turned it on in the overtime round with a barrage of punches that left Kohsaka cold and earned Rutten a shot at the vacant title.

At UFC 20, he faced Team Hammer House's, Kevin Randleman. In a lacklustre bout that featured Randleman scoring a takedown and then stalling, Rutten attemped to remain active on the bottom with punches and movement. After 21 minutes, a split decision came in for the more active Rutten and with it came the UFC heavyweight title.

Retirement

After the victory over Randleman, Rutten decided that he would vacate the title and attempt to drop a few pounds to take on middleweight champion (200 lbs.), Frank Shamrock for the chance become the first person to have held two different UFC titles.

However, Rutten suffered multiple injuries in the training camp including a blown out knee and a biceps tear which under doctor's advice forced Rutten into retirement.

As of that day, Rutten retired with a record of 27 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw with an unbeaten streak dating back to 1995 of 20 wins and 1 draw.

Comeback

In early 2006, Bas Rutten decided to make a comeback to professional mixed martial arts competition. He was slated to face early UFC competitor, Kimo Leopoldo at the inaugural WFA event, WFA: King of the Streets.

Two days before the event however, Kimo tested positive to anabolic steroid, Stanzonol and had to be replaced. Ruben Villareal stepped in and was punished by Rutten in true "El Guapo" style as Rutten landed a leg kick after leg kick. The damage added up and Villareal was eventually down and out from the sustained damage awarding Rutten the victory at 3:34 of round 1.

Rutten had not fought for a bit over 7 years and has no plans to fight in the future due to injuries he had sustained in the camp for the fight.

Commentary

"El Guapo" was a commentator for the English broadcasts of the PRIDE Fighting Championships from PRIDE 1 in October 1997 until the end of 2005 middleweight Grand Prix. His colorfol personality and keen insight on the fights lended himself to much popularity amongst fans.

In recent years, Rutten has aligned himself with HDNet, a subscription channel thats boasts a large amount of mixed martial arts content. Rutten co-hosts a MMA news show called Inside MMA with Kenny Rice and also commentates on a number of the events that are broadcast on the channel, including, the now defunct IFL, DREAM, and Strikeforce.