Bas Rutten Record, Net Worth, Weight, Age & More!

Who is Bas Rutten?

 Bas Rutten was born on February 24, 1965.  He is a Dutch-American former mixed martial artist and kickboxer.  Bas Rutten is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and a three-time King of Pancrase world champion.

Who is Bas Rutten?

 Bas Rutten was born on February 24, 1965.  He is a Dutch-American former mixed martial artist and kickboxer.  Bas Rutten is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and a three-time King of Pancrase world champion.

What This Article Covers:

• Who is Bas Rutten?
• How Much is Bas Rutten Worth?
• How Much Does Bas Rutten Weigh?
• Bas Rutten's Best Fight of All Time
• Bas Rutten's Record

Bas Rutten ended his career with a 22 fight unbeaten streak with 21 wins and 1 draw.  He is considered the most accurate striker in history by Fightmetric, the official combat statistic provider to the UFC.  When they analyzed all of the footage of his career which came in at almost 4 hours and 30 minutes of fighting time, he finished with a 70.6% strike accuracy which was the highest they ever recorded for any mixed martial artist.

Destroying Opponents With Strikes From Every Range by Bas Rutten

instructional video by Bas Rutten

Bas Rutten is also well-known as a color commentator for the Pride Fighting Championships organization and others and as a co-host of the highly popular mixed martial arts program Inside MMA for many years.  Bas Rutten would become an American citizen in the late 1990's.

The Tao Of MMA by Duane Ludwig

As a professional athlete and fighter, he helped popularize the tactic of the liver shot using either punches or kicks.  He has become even more well-known after stepping away from the combat stages through his commentary and film work.  He also coaches MMA and has developed many instructional resources.

Moves Your Instructor Never Showed You by Malachy Friedman

Bas Rutten was born in Tilburg, Netherlands.  As a youth, he suffered from severe eczema and asthma.  Because of his skin condition, he was forced to wear long sleeves, high collared shirts or turtlenecks and even gloves.  His asthma made it difficult for him to be an active child.  Because of this, he grew up relatively slight of build and found himself the victim of bullying quite regularly as a child.

The Basics Of Kickboxing by Duane Ludwig

Bas Rutten began practicing boxing with a childhood friend during elementary school.  At around 12 years of age, he was exposed to the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon while on vacation with his family.  He was too young to actually be admitted into the theatre due to the film's rating so his brother would sneak him into the theater.  

The film sparked his lifelong passion for martial arts.  After several years of badgering his parents, who were resistant at first, he was allowed to begin practicing Tae Kwon Do.  Bas Rutten would take to the martial arts training quickly and after only a few months, he would find himself in an altercation with one of the biggest bully's in town.  Their street fight would be short as Bas would KO the bully and break his nose with one punch.  The altercation would lead to a visit from local police and his parents becoming much less supportive of his martial arts training.

Bas Rutten would have to wait until he was out of his parents' home at age 21 to begin training again.  He would soon earn his 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and begin studying Kyokushin karate and earn 2nd degree black belt.

How Old is Bas Rutten?

Bas Rutten was born on February 24, 1965.  He is currently 56 years of age. 

Bas Rutten's  Family

 Bas Rutten, his wife and two daughters currently live in California.  Bas Rutten has a daughter from his first wife as well.  Bas also has one grandson, who lives in Belgium.

How Much is Bas Rutten Worth?

 According to internet sources, Bas Rutten is estimated to have a net worth of over $1 million dollars.

How Tall is Bas Rutten?

Bas Rutten is listed to be 6 feet 1 inch tall.

How Much Does Bas Rutten Weigh?

Bas Rutten fought during his competitive career at 205 lbs.

Bas Rutten Fight List

Bas Rutten began his competitive career as a kickboxer at the age of 20.  At this time, Bas was working as a bouncer and a model.  His early kickboxing career began extremely well as he fought 16 times and finished 14 of his opponents via knockout and only lost two fights.

One of his losses was against Frank Lobman for the European Muay Thai championship in 1991, where Bas Rutten would be KO'd in the first round.  Bas Rutten would later admit that he signed up for the fight while he was "under the influence" and without any kind of earlier preparation before the match.  Despite these facts, he would not pull out of the match.

Bas Rutten began his professional mixed martial arts when he was working as an entertainer.  He was invited to train at the Fighting Network RINGS Holland gym.  In 1993, he was chosen to take part in a new "hybrid wrestling" sport organization called Pancrase.  Pancrase would become a precursor to what we know of today as modern mixed martial arts.  Many of the earliest pioneers of the combat arts would get their start in Pancrase.  Fighters like Ken and Frank Shamrock, Maurice Smith and Guy Mezger would all cut their combat teeth on Pancrase prior to fighting in the current UFC as we know it.

Bas Rutten made his debut in the Pancrase organization against an opponent that was 45 lb heavier Ryushi Yanagisawa.  Bas Rutten was able to knock him out with palm and knee strikes in less than 1 minute.  The KO was extremely brutal, with Yanagisawa actually carried from the ring to the hospital.

In his second fight, he would come up against a much more experienced opponent in Takaku Fuke.  Fuke would utilize his superior ground fighting experience to take Bas Rutten down and secure an armbar.  Bas would utilize an escape and ultimately win the fight with his patented knee strike to his opponent's liver.

Bas Rutten would face his toughest Pancrase opponent to date in 1994 against the founder of the organization Masakatsu Funaki.  Bas would, for the second time, find himself out matched in the grappling aspect of the sport when he was caught in a toe hold which forced him to tap out.  He would begin to train grappling much more seriously after this fight to make himself a more well-rounded fighter.

Through his increased focus on the grappling, Bas Rutten was able to round out his skills and it showed in his next fight against a wrestler Kazuo "Yoshiki" Takahashi with an inverted heel hook.  It was clear that the wrestler under estimated the grappling skills of Rutten.  The Japanese wrestler's leg would be broken by the heel hook.

In his next fight, Bas Rutten would get his next win against the co-founder of Pancrase Minoru Suzuki.  Bas would take him down with a body kick.  Suzuki was unable to use his grappling skills due to Bas' ever-increasing skills.  Bas Rutten would finish the fight with a knee to the liver.  Bas Rutten has referred to this victory as one of the happiest moments of his life.

Less than a month later, Bas Rutten would face another talented opponent in Ken Shamrock, who was at that time one of the best prospects in Pancrase.  The better ground fighter, Shamrock would force Bas Rutten to utilize his "rope escapes" due to several submission attempts.  Ken Shamrock would eventually catch Bas in a rear naked choke.  After this, Bas Rutten would make grappling 100% of his training focus.  He would bounce back from this loss against Shamrock with a submission win over Jason Delucia via guillotine choke.

In December 1994, Bas Rutten would participate in one of the biggest combat events to date, the King of Pancrase Tournament.  The winner would earn the title "King of Pancrase"  Bas entered the tournament as one of four #1 seeds.  His first fight would be with Frank Shamrock.  Due to a controversial finish, Frank Shamrock earned the upset decision win.  Though he won the fight, Frank Shamrock would suffer a broken nose from a Bas Rutten high kick.

Bas Rutten bounced back after the loss to Frank Shamrock to defeat expert grappler and King of Pancrase Finalist Manabu Yamada.  He would win the fight via choke.  This victory would set up a rematch with Ken Shamrock for a chance at the King of Pancrase title.

In that rematch with Ken Shamrock, Rutten would find himself caught in a kneebar and would be forced to submit.  Never one to take a defeat lightly, Bas Rutten would rededicate himself to grappling and up his training to 2-3 times a day solely in the grappling arts, mainly working on submissions.

Bas Rutten would bounce back from the submission loss by defeating Takaku Fuke with a heel hook of his own.  His next match would be against the dangerous American kickboxing champion Maurice Smith who attempted to go to the ground to avoid Bas Rutten's striking prowess.  This would be an ill-fated decision by Maurice because Bas' much improved grappling expertise was put on display when he was able to secure a figure four toe hold and the win.

In his next fight, he would defeat Jason DeLucia again and earn himself a rematch with Frank Shamrock.  Bas Rutten was able to secure the split decision victory after a back and forth battle and some shady refereeing.

The victory over Frank Shamrock would set him up with a challenge match against the King of Pancrase Minoru Suzuki.  The match was long and hard and Rutten's grappling defenses to the test.  In the last minutes of the match, Rutten was able to land a front kick which downed his opponent and he would be able to lock on a guillotine choke to earn the King of Pancrase title.

After a period of putting his title defenses on hold due to injury, Rutten would rematch with Maurice Smith.  Following a similar strategy to his first fight with Bas Rutten, Maurice Smith would attempt to take the fight to the ground which ultimately cost him the fight via rear naked choke.  His next fight would be against Ryushi Yanagisawa, the fighter he started out against in Pancrase.  The match lasted nearly a half hour and despite breaking his hand during the match, Bas Rutten would score three consecutive submissions and finish the match with a rear naked choke.

In March of 1996, Bas Rutten took on another future UFC legend in Guy Mezger.  Rutten's striking prowess dominated the fight, which forced Mezger to bring the fight to the ground.  There he was unable to secure a submission.  They would exchange leg attacks and Bas Rutten would be victorious again by heel hook.

In his next title defense, he would meet Frank Shamrock again.  During the match, Shamrock would famously taunt Bas by sticking out his tongue during a leg lock exchange.  Rutten would win the fight via TKO due to an eye cut.

Bas Rutten would next meet Jason Delucia who would implore to the refs that Bas was hitting him with closed fist, which is against the rules of Pancrase.  This earned Bas Rutten several penalties.  In response, Rutten would give DeLucia a number of damaging liver shots that would knock him out.

 At the 1996 Pancrase Anniversary Show, Bas Rutten would defend his title again against the creator of Pancrase Funaki in what is considered the greatest fight of Pancrase history.  After a close call getting caught in an ankle lock from the Japanese wrestler, Bas would utilize his striking prowess to utterly destroy his opponent with strikes.  This would be Bas' third defense of his King of Pancrase title.  The savagery of the domination was initiated by the Japanese wrestlers making a throat slashing motion in the fight build up.

Bas Rutten would have a much easier time in his next match against Manabu Yamada.  This fight would last less than a minute with Bas Rutten securing a toehold.

In his next match on March 22, 1997, Rutten would be injured by Osami Shibuya after his sternum was broken during the match forcing a draw.  The two would meet in a rematch and Bas would secure the victory via a spinal lock that became known as the "Bas Rutten Neck Crank".  

In Pancrase, Rutten would fight 8 more times taking his unbeaten streak to 19 fights.  Ken Shamrock would be the only fighter he was unable to avenge a loss to.

Bas Rutten would leave the Pancrase organization as one of the most dominant fighters in history.  Having already known about the burgeoning UFC promotion, he had decided early on not to fight in the UFC because of the lack of rules and the potential risk to his fighting career.  He would eventually sign with the UFC in 1998 and with the hype of his 19 fight win streak, he would walk into the cage touted as the "world's greatest martial artist."

His first fight was scheduled to be with then heavyweight championiRandy Couture, but due to a contact dispute, Couture would leave the organization.  The title would be stripped and a tournament format set up that would see Bas Rutten's first fight against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.  Despite being taking down over and over, Bas Rutten was able to secure a dramatic KO with only a minute left in the match.

In 1999, he would meet Kevin Randleman for the UFC heavyweight championship.  Bas would employ his striking prowess and his patented liver strikes to help earn the split decision win.  After the fight, Rutten would make the decision to drop a weight class to attempt to be the first fighter to hold the title in two weight classes.  However due to a series injuries Bas Rutten took some time away from MMA.

He would be offered a fight against Kazushi Sakuraba by the Pride Fighting Championship, but declined it due to insufficient purse.  Instead he would join the commentating team.

In May 2006, Bas Rutten fought his last fight against Ruben Villareal in the World Fighting Alliance.  He would win by TKO in the first round via low kicks.  In 2015, during International Fight Week in July, Bas Rutten would be the first European inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame within the "Pioneers" wing of the Hall.

Bas Rutten's Best Fight of All Time

Bas Rutten is one of the original combat pioneers of the early days of mixed martial arts.  Entering the sport as primarily a striker, he was able to learn from each of his fights and eventually developed his grappling school to become a well-rounded athlete.

Of all of the legendary fighters that Bas Rutten competed with, his best fight could be argued to be his first altercation with the biggest bully in his town that solidified his love of martial arts training and helped him develop into the athlete he would become.

Who Did Bas Rutten Lose to?

Bas Rutten would lose to Funaki the founder of Pancrase via toe hold.  He would lose to Frank and Ken Shamrock, with the latter securing two victories via submission against Bas.

Bas Rutten's Record

Bas Rutten retired with a kickboxing record of 14-2.  He held a mixed martial arts record of 28-4-1, retiring on a 19 fight streak without a loss.

Bas Rutten's Injuries

Over his storied career, Bas Rutten has endured knee injuries, bicep tears and neck issues.

Is Bas Rutten Retired?

Bas Rutten is retired from combat athletics as a competitor, but still remains close with his coaching and instructionals.

Enjoyed reading about Bas Rutten? Then consider checking:

• Justin Gaethje
• Ben Askren
• Gilbert Burns
• John Smith
• Victor Hugo