There were workouts and workout equipment. Bas wouldn't fight again for another seven years, but it seemed like he was everywhere. He used his name to promote the Bas Rutten Invitational five times in '99. Those two nights I had a real reason to root for a fighter, and I did.īetween his bouts that year, Rutten exhibited signs of playing up his commercial appeal. Rutten survived a beating early, recovered and neutralized "The Monster." He poured it on late to stop the Japanese RINGS fighter, leading to Mike Goldberg's classic call, "Rutten's taking over! Rutten's taking over! It's over!"īas Rutten vs Tsuyoshi Kosaka at UFC 18 on Januat Pontchartrain Center in New Orleans, Louisiana #DWCOTD /tCmMBLSuQOīas captured the heavyweight title later in the year by taking a controversial split decision over Kevin Randleman at UFC 20. Rutten was 33 when he beat "TK" at UFC 18 - the first pay-per-view I purchased live. That right there opened me up to a whole new world of fighting, and a local Japanese video store replaced Blockbuster as my place to rent tapes.įrom Pancrase to Shooto to the earliest Pride Fighting Championships events, my knowledge of the different dimensions of mixed fighting grew very quickly. I was intent on figuring out how true that was, and attempted to watch Rutten's past fights, which meant finding Pancrase on VHS. He was undefeated in his previous 19 fights and had been touted as the world's best fighter while transitioning from Pancrase to the UFC. There was no shortage of hype around Rutten. He knew that if he was ever going to parlay an exciting and successful fighting career into something on-screen, it would require success in the UFC. He was always loud, an extrovert.īas, like Oleg, wanted to act. He taught hard things in simple ways and was always understated about it. This was "The Russian Bear," the guy who beat Tank Abbott after 17 minutes in Casper, Wyo. When Oleg told me I threw a clean punch, the impact of that felt real. This was crucial, I feel, for sticking around that world for the past 20 years. Imagine finding something you love and gaining access to people like that at the beginning of your experience. So from 1997 to 2000, I found myself interacting and learning from top pros like Rutten and Oleg Taktarov when I wasn't training in Krav Maga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. debut that coming January against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, and he began teaching select classes at the place I practiced self-defense and trained.Īt that point, my interest in what became known as mixed martial arts had mushroomed, and as part of my infatuation, I spent many hours at the Krav Maga National Training Center in Los Angeles. That I owe in no small part to meeting Bas Rutten in 1998. It wasn't until UFC 18 that I started to religiously follow the sport. When I was exposed to Battlecade Extreme Fighting, those cards clued me in that there was plenty worth watching outside the octagon.
I enjoyed watching some fighters, but I liked the fights more. I discovered the UFC in a real way in 1996 and spent more than a few Blockbuster Nights renting UFC events to see what I missed. Be sure to join our discussion thread and share your own story.Ī filing cabinet located in a spare bedroom at my mom's house holds a collection of mixed martial arts magazines, periodicals, trinkets and event programs that I have held onto since the late 1990s.
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This is part of a new series documenting the favorite fighters of The Athletic's MMA staff. With most of the sports world shut down for an indefinite period, we're looking for creative ways to help fill the void.
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