Trivia / Bas Rutten

• Promoted Fanboy: Was also a fan of Bruce Lee and martial arts flicks.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Rutten could have ended going to RINGS instead of Pancrase, as he originally trained at the RINGS Holland dojo with Chris Dolman and was contacted to fight there before being scouted by Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Rutten at the time did not know RINGS was mostly worked.
  • When Pancrase brought in Frank Lobman for the Kickboxing match against Ken Shamrock and due to his own loss in a kickboxing match to Lobman, Bas wanted to arrange a rematch under Pancrase rules first and then have the rubber match under Muay Thai rules, but Lobman refused.
  • He could have competed in the first UFC events, as he heard it from Ken Shamrock and his own friend Gerard Gordeau, but he was not interested at the moment, as he had a better pay and a more safe career grooming in Pancrase. He also could have fought later in PRIDE, but they offered him a better contract as a commentator and he stuck with it.
  • His UFC debut was originally going to be the main event to UFC: Ultimate Brazil (aka UFC 17.5) against Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight title, however the fight was cancelled when Couture instead signed with Vale Tudo Japan, and was stripped of the title.
  • His last opponent was supposed to be Kimo Leopoldo, but Kimo got caught taking banned substances and was replaced by “Warpath” Ruben Villareal.