| Result
| Record
| Opponent
| Method
| Event
| Date
| Round
| Time
|
| Win | 28-4-1 | Ruben Villareal | TKO (Leg Kicks) | World Fighting Alliance-King of the Streets | 7/22/2006 | 1 | 3:24
|
| Win | 27-4-1 | Kevin Randleman | Decision (Split) | UFC 20-Battle for the Gold | 5/7/1999 | 1 | 21:00
|
| Win | 26-4-1 | Tsuyoshi Kohsaka | KO | UFC 18-Road to the Heavyweight Title | 1/8/1999 | 1 | 14:15
|
| Win | 25-4-1 | Kengo Watanabe | TKO (Lost Points) | Pancrase-1998 Anniversary Show | 9/14/1998 | 1 | 2:58
|
| Win | 24-4-1 | Keiichiro Yamamiya | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | Pancrase-Alive 11 | 12/20/1997 | 1 | 4:58
|
| Win | 23-4-1 | Osami Shibuya | Submission (Body Triangle) | Pancrase-1997 Anniversary Show | 9/6/1997 | 1 | 3:15
|
| Win | 22-4-1 | Takaku Fuke | Submission (Armbar) | Pancrase-Alive 7 | 6/30/1997 | 1 | 4:28
|
| Win | 21-4-1 | Kiuma Kunioku | Decision (Lost Points) | Pancrase-Alive 4 | 4/27/1997 | 1 | 15:00
|
| Draw | 20-4-1 | Osami Shibuya | Draw | Pancrase-Alive 3 | 3/22/1997 | 1 | 15:00
|
| Win | 20-4 | Manabu Yamada | Submission (Toe Hold) | Pancrase-Truth 7 | 10/8/1996 | 1 | 0:54
|
| Win | 19-4 | Masakatsu Funaki | TKO (Lost Points) | Pancrase-1996 Anniversary Show | 9/7/1996 | 1 | 17:05
|
| Win | 18-4 | Jason Delucia | TKO (Liver Shot) | Pancrase-Truth 6 | 6/25/1996 | 1 | 8:48
|
| Win | 17-4 | Frank Shamrock | TKO (Cut) | Pancrase-Truth 5 | 5/16/1996 | 1 | 11:11
|
| Win | 16-4 | Katsuomi Inagaki | TKO (Lost Points) | Pancrase-Truth 4 | 4/8/1996 | 1 | 14:07
|
| Win | 15-4 | Guy Mezger | Submission | Pancrase-Truth 2 | 3/2/1996 | 1 | 19:36
|
| Win | 14-4 | Ryushi Yanagisawa | Submission (Choke) | Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 7 | 12/14/1995 | 1 | 27:35
|
| Win | 13-4 | Maurice Smith | Submission (Choke) | Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 6 | 11/4/1995 | 1 | 4:34
|
| Win | 12-4 | Minoru Suzuki | Submission (Guillotine Choke) | Pancrase-1995 Anniversary Show | 9/1/1995 | 1 | 15:35
|
| Win | 11-4 | Frank Shamrock | Decision (Split) | Pancrase-1995 Neo-Blood Tournament, Round 2 | 7/23/1995 | 1 | 15:00
|
| Win | 10-4 | Jason Delucia | Submission (Toe Hold) | Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 5 | 6/13/1995 | 1 | 1:32
|
| Win | 9-4 | Maurice Smith | Submission (Kneebar) | Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 4 | 5/13/1995 | 1 | 2:10
|
| Win | 8-4 | Takaku Fuke | Submission (Heel Hook) | Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 3 | 4/8/1995 | 1 | 1:52
|
| Loss | 7-4 | Ken Shamrock | Submission (Kneebar) | Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 2 | 3/10/1995 | 1 | 1:01
|
| Win | 7-3 | Manabu Yamada | Submission (Arm triangle choke) | Pancrase-Eyes Of Beast 1 | 1/26/1995 | 1 | 1:05
|
| Loss | 6-3 | Frank Shamrock | Decision (Majority) | Pancrase-King of Pancrase Tournament, Round 1 | 12/16/1994 | 1 | 10:00
|
| Win | 6-2 | Jason Delucia | Submission (Guillotine Choke) | Pancrase-Road To The Championship 5 | 10/15/1994 | 1 | 1:43
|
| Loss | 5-2 | Ken Shamrock | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | Pancrase-Road To The Championship 3 | 7/26/1994 | 1 | 16:42
|
| Win | 5-1 | Minoru Suzuki | KO | Pancrase-Road To The Championship 2 | 7/6/1994 | 1 | 3:43
|
| Win | 4-1 | Yoshiki Takahashi | TKO | Pancrase-Road To The Championship 1 | 5/31/1994 | 1 | 1:37
|
| Win | 3-1 | Vernon White | Submission (Guillotine Choke) | Pancrase-Pancrash! 3 | 4/21/1994 | 1 | 1:16
|
| Loss | 2-1 | Masakatsu Funaki | Submission (Toe Hold) | Pancrase-Pancrash! 1 | 1/19/1994 | 1 | 2:58
|
| Win | 2-0 | Takaku Fuke | KO | Pancrase-Yes, We are Hybrid Wrestlers 2 | 10/14/1993 | 1 | 2:03
|
| Win | 1-0 | Ryushi Yanagisawa | KO | Pancrase-Yes, We are Hybrid Wrestlers 1 | 9/21/1993 | 1 | 0:43
|
Biography
Born in Tilburg, Netherlands, Rutten became interested in martial arts when he was 12 after watching Enter the Dragon in the movie theaters in France. He wanted to learn how to fight, especially with the nunchaku. His conservative parents didn't allow him to at first, but he eventually started to train in Tae Kwon Do and got as far as the 2nd Dan. He then trained in gōjū-ryū Karate. In high school, he was not big and strong and had a skin condition on his hands for which he was bullied occasionally. (He would return for his high school reunion as a champion fighter years later and issue a friendly challenge to fight his former tormentors; none accepted.) At the age of 20 he started competing in Thai boxing. After scoring 14 consecutive knockouts, Rutten suffered his first defeat; a knockout loss. Although he credits Kyokushin karate as the base of his striking skills, starting as a striker and later learning submission fighting, Rutten implemented a well balanced mixture of many techniques.
Bas Rutten calls himself "El Guapo" (Spanish for "The Handsome One"). This nickname was given to him by his wife and comes from his favorite comedy "¡Three Amigos!". In his fights, Rutten's "trademark" was delivering punches and kicks to the liver of his opponents. In his "Bas Rutten's Big DVDs of Combat" Bas refers to this as a "liver shot". Bas is also known for his characteristic "Rutten Jump," which he performed in the ring every time he won a fight, resembling a jumping split.
Pancrase
Bas began his professional mixed martial arts career with the Japanese fighting organization, Pancrase. In 1993, Japanese pro wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki traveled to Holland to scout fighters for their new "hybrid wrestling" (Bushido wrestling) organization, featuring submission fighting, but with no closed fisted strikes to the face. A precursor to what would become modern mixed martial arts, the organization was the first of its kind, and featured such early MMA names as Frank Shamrock, Vernon White, Maurice Smith, Ken Shamrock, and Guy Mezger.
His lack (at that time) of ground-fighting experience led to early defeats at the hands of Masakatsu Funaki and the then "King of Pancrase" Ken Shamrock, and more controversially losing to Frank Shamrock by way of a split judge's decision, Rutten would come back in 1995 and be dealt another loss from Ken Shamrock, but would go on to beat the previously undefeated Minoru Suzuki and win his first "King of Pancrase" title. Avenging his losses to both Frank Shamrock and Masakatsu Funaki in 1996, he went on to defeat both Jason Delucia and Guy Mezger and in so doing became a three time "King of Pancrase." In 1996, he relinquished his title, in order to be present for the birth of his second daughter. Bas returned to Pancrase, taking 8 more victories, bringing his winning streak up to 19 straight fights.
UFC
In 1998, Rutten signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the biggest MMA promotion in the United States. His first fight in the UFC was against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at UFC 18, which Rutten won by KO. Next he faced Kevin Randleman for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 20. This fight went into overtime, with Rutten taking a close decision victory to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Bas vacated the title later in the year, in order to drop down to middleweight (his natural weight class), and try to become the first person to hold a UFC title in two weight classes.
While training for his next UFC fight in 1999, Rutten suffered multiple serious injuries, including blowing out his knee (a long running injury), and tearing his biceps. He was forced to retire from MMA competition for the time being, by doctors orders.
Continued Celebrity
After his retirement from fighting in 1999, Rutten focused on becoming an actor, getting small parts on TV shows such as Martial Law, 18 Wheels of Justice, The King of Queens, and the Canadian series Freedom, as well as appearing in low budget movies such as Shadow Fury, The Eliminator, and the comedy short The Kingdom of Ultimate Power which was featured in the 2005 L.A. Film Festival. It also won the first prize at the short film festival in NY for "best comedy".
Bas Rutten wrestled occasionally for NJPW from 2000 to 2002, including an IWGP title shot against Yuji Nagata, which he lost.
Rutten was also the color commentator for the English productions of PRIDE, calling nearly every event from PRIDE 1 through the 2005 Grand Prix. Known for his sense of humor and first hand knowledge of the sport, Rutten quickly became a fan favorite commentator. In April 2006 he announced that he would not continue to announce for PRIDE, due to the constant flying to Japan, and being away from his family every month. He handed off commentating duties to fighter Frank Trigg.
Rutten is also featured in the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV He can be seen on the in-game TV show called "The Men's Room." Rutten also did motion capture for the main character's fighting moves. Rutten has been seen more recently on National Geographic's Fight Science as an expert in fighting, where he was measured demonstrating the deeper and more damaging MMA kick than Muay Thai's knee.
Coaching
Rutten gained fame as Mark Kerr's fighting coach in the highly acclaimed HBO documentary of 2003 "The Smashing Machine: the life and times of extreme fighter Mark Kerr" directed by John Hyams. Rutten was shown kickboxing and wrestling with Kerr in his dojo and commenting on Kerr's strengths and weaknesses in an honest and insightful manner.
In 2006 Rutten was tapped to coach a team for the new International Fight League, an MMA organization that focuses on team combat. His team, the Anacondas, defeated the Silverbacks 3-2.
He is currently training former street fighter Kimbo Slice to compete in professional MMA bouts.
Return to MMA
In May 2006, Bas announced his return to MMA competition. Cleared by doctors to fight again, Rutten was slated to face Kimo Leopoldo in the now defunct World Fighting Alliance on July 22, 2006 at The Forum in Los Angeles. But just two days before the event, Kimo tested positive for Stanozolol, a form of anabolic steroids. In place of Kimo, Rutten fought Ruben "Warpath" Villareal. Bas took a first-round victory by way of technical knockout after low kicks left his opponent unable to stand. With that he brought up his winning streak to 22 wins. Ironically, due to a dramatically improved ground game, this "striker" from Holland actually won more fights by submissions than by KO.
Rutten has recently announced that he is teaming up with UFC legend Randy Couture in starting up a brand new fight-gym in Hollywood, called "Legends Mixed Martial Arts Training Center", which will train Mixed Martial Arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and Boxing.
Besides Bas and Randy, several other well known instructors and pro-fighters will teach there, including: Karo Parisyan, Jason Miller and Eddie Bravo.
Rutten now is the host along with Kenny Rice of the show "Inside MMA", a weekly news show about MMA that airs Friday nights at 6:30 on HD Net.
Personal life
Bas currently lives and trains in Westlake Village, California with his wife Karin and together they have three daughters, Rachel (pronounced Rah-SHEL), Sabine (pronounced Sa-BEEN-ah) and Bianca. Bas also has another daughter who lives with his ex-wife in Holland
Accomplishments
- King of Pancrase
- UFC Heavyweight Championship
- Muay Thai Record: 14 wins (14 KOs) - 1 Loss
Filmography
- Shadow of the Dragon (1992)
- Shadow Fury (2001)
- The Eliminator (2004)
- The Vault (2005)
- The Kingdom of Ultimate Power (2005)
- Backlash (2006)
Professional Record
