Bas Rutten
Sebastiaan “Baas” Rutten is one of the most popular faces in the world of martial arts. Born on 24th February 1965, this Dutch mixed martial arts expert and color commentator is extremely famous. Bas Rutten has been the King of Pancrase for three times. He has also won the Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight Champion. Bas Rutten is a certified instructor for MTBN Thai Boxing. To add to this list, Rutten is a Pancrase instructor. The former champion has a 5th Degree Black Belt in Kyokushin Karate and a second Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Bas Rutten is the founder of the extremely popular martial arts system, “The Bas Rutten System”. Rutten has authored several books on martial arts which have been very popular. He has also made videos on martial arts. The champion has defeated several other notable fighters like Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Masakatsu Funaki and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. He is considered by many experts to be amongst the best fighter in the history of MMA.
Rutten was born in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Bas Rutten got interested in martial arts at a young age of 14. His inspiration was the movie Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee. He joined Ta Kwon Do and got his black belt in a year. After getting his second Dan black belt in TKD, he got training in Kyokushin Karate. He took part in bareknuckle full contact karate tournaments.
He started competing in Thai Kick boxing competitions and stayed undefeated. Rutten gives the credit of his success to Kyokushin karate. The player calls himself as “El Guapo” or the “The Handsome One” in Spanish. Rutten’s wife gave him this nickname. The main villain of the movie “The Three Amigos” had this name. Bas’s favourite shot was delivering kicks and punches to the opponent’s liver. He called this as the “liver shot”. The fighter is also known for his trademark “Rutten Jump” that he performed every time he entered the ring for a fight and won.
Bas joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1998. It was the biggest promotion of MMA in the United States of America. Bas Rutten’s first fight in the UFC was with Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in which Rutten won with a KO. During his UFC fight in 1999, Bas faced multiple injuries, blowed out his knee and tore his biceps. Rotten was asked to retire from the MMA competition from his doctors. Bas made a comeback to the MMA in 2006 and has started his winning streak again.
By Sherdog.com Staff
Regulated mixed martial arts has experienced its first casualty. Sam asquez, who was stopped by Vince Libar
