Bas Rutten also known as “El Guapo” is a former three-time King of Pancrase Champion and former undefeated UFC Heavyweight Champion. Finishing his career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak (21 wins, 1 draw), he is one of the very few undisputed legends of Mixed Martial Arts.

Mike: How did you get started in MMA?
Bas: That’s a whole story… and it all started with Bruce Lee. My brother and I had snuck into a movie theater and watched "Enter the Dragon" while on vacation with my parents. That movie changed my life, and I wanted to be Bruce Lee after that. I begged my parents, who were very conservative to let me do martial arts, and finally after like 2 years they bent, and I started taking Tae Kwon Do. I was learning very fast and after like 4 weeks I was beating up the brown belts, (he laughs). I was a very sick kid growing up though, I had asthma and a really bad skin disease that left me wearing gloves sometimes... and because of that I was bullied and picked on a lot. One day the biggest bully in the school came over and was picking on me and flipped me off. Everyone started to circle around like they do for a fight, and I knocked him out in one punch, breaking his nose in the process... and that was the end of my Tae Kwon Do! My parents found out about the fight, and took me out of the martial arts classes. I ended up moving out of the house when I was like 20 or 21 and started back in martial arts right away. I first went back to TKD, and I also started taking some more traditional Karate. I then started to learn some Thai Boxing, and like 6 weeks after I started training I had my first Thai fight. I won it by a spinning back kick to the liver, first liver shot! I ended up getting a call from Pancrase, who wanted me to fight this guy from an organization called Rings, (which was like 80% fake, with set up matches) but they thought that their "world champion" was going to come in and knock me out. And he also thought he was going to knock me out......he tried, but I Ko'd him… and from there I went on to Japan...and that’s pretty much how it started.

Mike: That’s an interesting story man, so you have a ton of fights, but do you have a favorite?
Bas: My most memorable fight, to me… was my 2nd fight with Funaki. I fought him before, and didn’t really know much about submissions and was pretty much training them by myself so he got me in a toe hold, and after a submission loss to Ken Shamrock… I went out and found a guy to roll with and started to learn JJ. After that I think I won like 18 fights in a row or something. They asked me to fight Funaki again, and they had plans for him to beat me I think... but those plans went totally wrong! He did that little throat slash, with his thumb while in his corner before the fight... and it really pissed me off! I told my corner that I was going to kill him! They told me to relax and go out there and fight. I broke his nose and both of his cheekbones (laughs).

Mike: What about the toughest fight?
Bas: I have honestly never really had a tough fight. I had the most problems with Randleman though. He was tough for the first 4 minutes of the fight, but after I landed that liver kick he wasn’t doing anything. And he has said that himself, that after that shot… he couldn’t do much. But he messed my nose up in the fight, and I also lost a contact… and I am a negative 5… so I couldn’t see shit! I kept swallowing blood from my nose, and in between the rounds you cans see me sticking my fingers down my throat trying to throw up all the blood I swallowed, because it was making me nauseous.

Mike: You are also known for your commentating, how did that start?
Bas: I was training Mark Kerr for a fight in PRIDE, and also Marco Ruas was there. I went as their corner. We were in the lockeroom, watching the fights on the TV. A couple of the PRIDE executives were also in there watching and I said watch, he's gonna get a kneebar.., and bam! kneebar. Next fight started and I said here comes a straight armbar… bam! straight armbar. The executives asked if I would be interested in commentating, so I said yeah.

Mike: How was your first show as commentator?
Bas: (laughs) Well I didn’t know you had to bring a suit. I never really paid attention to that I guess… and I didn’t know. So I showed up in my shorts, flip flops, and my Hawaiian print shirt. They asked where my suit was and I told them I didn’t bring one. That’s how those little funny sketches before the event started. The first one was like me and 6 Japanese girls, and they were feeding me grapes, and fanning me to cool me off. That’s how those started!

Mike: That’s awesome, I never knew that! You have been all over the world fighting/training etc... where is your favorite place to be for a fight (city/country)?
Bas: I Pretty much like everywhere really. I mean of course Las Vegas is nice, but what I want… is to see it at Madison Square Garden! I will get my tickets as soon as it happens!

CHECK OUT PART 2 OF THIS INTERVIEW IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF MMA SPORTS MAGAZINE