El Guapo, otherwise known as Bas Rutten, is one of the biggest legends in MMA history today. He was the UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his career on a 22 fight win streak. From world champion to co host of Inside MMA and HDNET, along with doing commentary for MMA events, Bas is still as relevant in MMA today as he was 10 years ago. Below is an interview done by Strikeforce's Johnny Preston with the man himself, Bas "El Guapo" Rutten.
JP: You’re an integral part of the EA Sports MMA videogame. How was the overall experience of being in the game for you?
BR: It was awesome. When I did the photos for it, I knew I was involved in something great. I always like to do videogames, but the cool thing was that this was not the plan for my involvement in the game. I was supposed to be just another fighter you could fight as or against. But when I walked in and started to do the lines that I was supposed to say as a fighter, I got animated. I can go over-the-top…I don’t care if you’re the Queen of England, I’m still me. After about two hours, they said they were thinking of having me as the host of the game. And it just went from there. I got my gym in the game…the whole nine yards. I think I did a total of six days of talking. And you really have to plan that the right way. The first two days, I did all the screaming, and it really messed up my voice. Next time, we’ll have to do all the screaming at the end (laughs). But it was great, man.
JP: You’ve been around MMA since the very beginning. With all the videogames, commentating, and other media opportunities, what are your thoughts on how far the sport of MMA has come?
BR: It’s gotten big! With guys like me, we had fighting as a job. It’s clear the sport has gotten bigger. It could get even bigger, but really, how much bigger do you want to have it? Do we want to see more and more shows? For me, lots of mixed martial arts is always good. But with so many fighters out there, are there enough slots for them all? There’s no question that the sport is going very strongly, and is going in the direction it needs to go. I was at a local sports store near where I live, and I saw posters of Georges St-Pierre in Under Armour gear. So I think the sport is going really good.
JP: With all the cross-training, and fighters now starting out training all disciplines as kids, how much better do you think fighters are going to get in the coming decades?
BR: We have MMA classes for kids at my gym, actually. As far as how much better the fighters will get, I think you’re going to get guys that make almost no mistakes. We do have fighters like that already, and they know the techniques, but now it’s going to become about getting different setups that your opponent doesn’t know. Everybody knows a guillotine choke, and most know how to get to one. But if you can create a different way to get to that choke, then you’re going to surprise people. However, that will only happen one time, because once it gets used that one time, everyone will see that and start to train for it. So that’s really the only thing that I think might continue to evolve. Well, that and stamina. I think stamina will get better. I think we will see guys in better shape in the future, too.
For more info on Bas, fans can head to BasRutten.com, check out his gym at EliteMMAGym.com, or they can follow him on Twitter at @BasRuttenMMA.
Interview by: Johnny Preston
Source: www.strikeforce.com
JP: You’re an integral part of the EA Sports MMA videogame. How was the overall experience of being in the game for you?BR: It was awesome. When I did the photos for it, I knew I was involved in something great. I always like to do videogames, but the cool thing was that this was not the plan for my involvement in the game. I was supposed to be just another fighter you could fight as or against. But when I walked in and started to do the lines that I was supposed to say as a fighter, I got animated. I can go over-the-top…I don’t care if you’re the Queen of England, I’m still me. After about two hours, they said they were thinking of having me as the host of the game. And it just went from there. I got my gym in the game…the whole nine yards. I think I did a total of six days of talking. And you really have to plan that the right way. The first two days, I did all the screaming, and it really messed up my voice. Next time, we’ll have to do all the screaming at the end (laughs). But it was great, man.
JP: You’ve been around MMA since the very beginning. With all the videogames, commentating, and other media opportunities, what are your thoughts on how far the sport of MMA has come?
BR: It’s gotten big! With guys like me, we had fighting as a job. It’s clear the sport has gotten bigger. It could get even bigger, but really, how much bigger do you want to have it? Do we want to see more and more shows? For me, lots of mixed martial arts is always good. But with so many fighters out there, are there enough slots for them all? There’s no question that the sport is going very strongly, and is going in the direction it needs to go. I was at a local sports store near where I live, and I saw posters of Georges St-Pierre in Under Armour gear. So I think the sport is going really good.
JP: With all the cross-training, and fighters now starting out training all disciplines as kids, how much better do you think fighters are going to get in the coming decades?
BR: We have MMA classes for kids at my gym, actually. As far as how much better the fighters will get, I think you’re going to get guys that make almost no mistakes. We do have fighters like that already, and they know the techniques, but now it’s going to become about getting different setups that your opponent doesn’t know. Everybody knows a guillotine choke, and most know how to get to one. But if you can create a different way to get to that choke, then you’re going to surprise people. However, that will only happen one time, because once it gets used that one time, everyone will see that and start to train for it. So that’s really the only thing that I think might continue to evolve. Well, that and stamina. I think stamina will get better. I think we will see guys in better shape in the future, too.
For more info on Bas, fans can head to BasRutten.com, check out his gym at EliteMMAGym.com, or they can follow him on Twitter at @BasRuttenMMA.
Interview by: Johnny Preston
Source: www.strikeforce.com
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