MMAU caught up with Bas Rutten who came out of retirement to fight in the WFA Promotion against late replacement Ruben Villarel and find out what Bas has been doing this year.
At a previous WFA event. Kimo Leopoldo and you got to talking. Kimo had said to you that he felt you lost the fight with Tsuyoshi Kosaka before it went to over time. Did you feel Kimo was jealous that you beat Tsuyoshi Kosaka and that he lost to T.K?
I'm sorry but the story is a little different but the effect was the same. They had told Kimo that I picked him personally. I never did that, when they asked me who I wanted to fight I said Rickson, they told me that he was too expensive and then they offered Kimo, I asked him why Kimo, they told me that they didn’t have an opponent for him, when I asked if he was OK with it, they told me that he already said he wanted to do it.
I wanted him to keep that thought that I picked him because that would make him angry and he would train harder.
So his anger towards me was real, my anger got heated up a little (although I knew it was just a “barking dog” so to say), when he started to say that he was going to put me back in retirement in minutes. So that was real. If I was going to tell him that I didn’t pick him he would maybe taking it more easy, and again, I wanted him angry, because angry people make mistakes.
So, you were due to make your comeback at WFA 4: King of the Streets against Kimo. But Kimo then tested positive for an illegal substance, not allowed to compete so was replaced by Ruben Villarel. What did you have to change in your game plan?
Not so much, my takedown defence is pretty good now and with Ruben being bigger, he would have more trouble taking me down because he will be a little slower. Plus I knew that he was a brawler and probably wanted to stand up with me, especially after then draw that he had with Don Frye. Same deal here, keep it on the feet and try to KO him, if it doesn’t work with punches, it will be low kicks, if that didn’t work I was going to make him tired and go for a takedown plus submission.
Was this a one fight deal with the promotion or are you scheduled to fight again later on in the year?
Right now I will have surgery on my knee first, after that I take it from there, but I signed for one more fight at WFA and also for a fight at the IFL.
Earlier this year you was the ring announcer and commentator at the World Cage Fighting Championship: No Guts No Glory in the U.K. How was your stay in the U.K? And what was your impression of Mixed Martial Arts in the UK?
I loved my stay over there. The promoters were really good to everybody. First class treatment all the way. I really like the UK too, the people are great over there, very much like the Dutch and they love the fighting game. I had so much fun over there with doing radio interviews and all, it was crazy. Some interviewers were against MMA, but after we talked to them they made a complete turn around, it was nuts. Mike Tyson was there, yeah, it was fun!
When you left Pride as the commentator. Hundreds of people flooded the email account of the U.S side of Pride FC pleading to bring you back . How does it make you feel to be one of the most respected people in MMA?
It feels very good of course when people respect you for what you did. I just came back from a promotion thing that we did for the IFL in Chicago and people are still telling me non stop that they miss my commentary. I am going to be the colour commentator for the IFL on September 23rd when my team doesn’t have to fight, I think also for the next WFA show. I really enjoy doing it, so it’s great.
Have you got any new films or T.V appearances this year and in the future we should look out for?
Not yet but I am working on a lot of things. Lets see what happens, there have been made so many promises the last years and I hope that this time it will happen for real.
Thanks for the interview Bas, have you got any last words for MMAU readers?
As always, keep supporting MMA!!!
It is great to see that people start to understand the ground game now because that makes them more respectful towards the fighters. In the beginning when there would be a great ground game going on, some people started booing, now they understand it better and know that the fighters actually can break somebody’s arm with an arm bar, or break a leg with a leg lock and that THAT is the reason why fighters tap, they want to fight the next show. So please keep that up!
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