Bas Rutten

Did You Know?

• Rutten won his first 14 kickboxing matches by knockout, 13 of them in the first round.
• After his submission loss to Ken Shamrock in 1995, Rutten finished his MMA career on a 22-fight unbeaten streak (21 wins, 1 draw).
• Rutten was ranked by Inside MMA in 2008 as the fourth-greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time.

Early life

Rutten was born in Tilburg, Netherlands. At age six, he developed eczema and severe asthma, which led to him wearing long sleeves, turtle necks, gloves, and bandages at night. He struggled with prolonged physical activity due to asthma and was often bullied, though he hid this from his parents. He learned to climb trees and jump between treetops to evade bullies, who stopped chasing him after one fell while trying to follow. He began training in boxing in a school backyard with a friend. At age 12, after his family vacationed in France, he snuck into a theater with his brother Sjoerd to see the movie Enter the Dragon, which sparked his interest in martial arts. He built a makeshift nunchaku to emulate Bruce Lee. His parents initially prohibited martial arts training, but allowed him to practice taekwondo at age 14. After a physical altercation with another child led to police involvement, his parents again prohibited martial arts. At 21, he moved out, worked as a chef while attending culinary school for four years, and resumed taekwondo, later earning a 2nd-degree black belt. He also began learning Kyokushin karate and earned a second 2nd-degree black belt.

Mixed martial arts career

Rutten began his professional MMA career while working as an entertainer. He was scouted by Chris Dolman and invited to train at the Fighting Network RINGS Holland dojo. In 1993, Japanese pro wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki traveled to the Netherlands to scout fighters for their hybrid wrestling organization Pancrase; Rutten was chosen after knocking out the RINGS champion in sparring. Pancrase featured no closed-fisted strikes to the face and included fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Vernon White, Maurice Smith, Ken Shamrock, and Guy Mezger. Rutten won his second match against Takaku Fuke. His third match was his first loss, submitted by Funaki via a toehold. He won against Minoru Suzuki by TKO due to a liver strike. Twenty days later, he faced Ken Shamrock and lost by rear naked choke. After this, he focused only on grappling for a time, submitting Jason DeLucia with a guillotine choke. In December 1994, he participated in the inaugural King of Pancrase tournament as a #1 seed but lost to Frank Shamrock by majority decision.

Post-fight career

After retiring from fighting in 1999, Rutten pursued acting, with small roles on TV shows such as Martial Law, 18 Wheels of Justice, The King of Queens, Lights Out, and the Canadian series Freedom, as well as low-budget movies including Shadow Fury, The Eliminator, and the comedy short The Kingdom of Ultimate Power, which won first prize at a short film festival in New York for best comedy. He served as color commentator for English productions of Pride Fighting Championships events from Pride 1 through the 2005 Grand Prix, becoming a fan favorite. In April 2006, he announced he would stop announcing for Pride due to constant commutes to Japan and time away from family. He appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV on the in-game TV show The Men's Room and did motion capture for the main character's fighting moves. He was featured in WCW vs. the World for PlayStation under the name Thunder Dome. On 23 January 2008, he was named Vice President of Fighter Operations for the IFL, reporting to CEO Jay Larkin, and hosted the weekly shows Battleground and International Fight League with Kenny Rice until the IFL went out of business in late 2008. He appeared in the music video for Listen to Your Friends by New Found Glory. He and Kenny Rice hosted Inside MMA on AXS TV and provided remote English commentary for Dream events on HDNet. He also appeared in public health service ads on Cartoon Network as part of the Get Healthy campaign and made a public service announcement against trying out MMA at home.

Personal life

Bas Rutten lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Karin and their two daughters, plus a daughter from his first marriage. He became a U.S. citizen during the 1990s. In late 2015, he became a grandfather for the first time; his grandson resides in Belgium. His nickname, El Guapo, translates to The Handsome One in Spanish. After his first Pancrase victory, he was so excited that he jumped into the splits, a move that became his signature celebration called the Rutten Jump. In 2010, he teamed up with the clothing brand Tokyo Five to create a cooking show, Grandma's Kitchen with Bas Rutten, but a physical fight between Rutten and his co-hosts put the pilot on hold indefinitely. He entered the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. Raised Catholic, he stopped attending church around age 12 when his parents did, but returned to the faith in 2013, crediting his friend Kevin James and others for helping him. He has multiple tattoos, each chosen to support his spiritual and emotional well-being. Rutten is also known for bar fights and brawls. In 1996 in Ukraine, after Paul Varelans tried to bite his back, Rutten threw him through a glass window using a kimura lock, then disarmed and attacked an armed bouncer. In Sweden, he fought several bouncers at once and ended up in a Swedish jail.