Bas Rutten talks Rousey-Cyborg, Mayweather-Pacquiao, McGregor, Kimbo, and who would have won with Frank vs. Ken Shamrock
Bas Rutten returned to Submission Radio on this weeks episode.
On the hot topic of Ronda Rousey fighting a man Bas makes his opinion clear “No, not yet. Of course it’s possible. Depends on who it is, but the man who’s the champion in her weight class 135? No I don’t think. She’s good, but once you start talking men and women, there’s still a difference.” Rutten however doesn’t put Rousey past beating the men in the top 20 of her division or even on the steet “On the street? Listen, she cleans everybody up. And everybody out of the top 20? God knows she does it as well, but I’m just saying, pound-for-pound, the same weight class, and the champion as well? I don’t think [so].”
According to Bas Cyborg had an advantage over Rousey previously that’s diminished with Ronda’s improvement over the last few fights “Cyborg I would have said a long time ago. Now, with Ronda is getting better in the striking and looking good at that, you know it’s going to be a hard fight.” Bas also has some advice to Cris Cybrog “If I were her, man I would go to the Olympic training centre in Colorado and I would train there with all the Olympic wrestlers. It’s the only thing I would do. Non-stop. And do not clinch. Whatever you do, do not clinch with Rousey because her hip throws, arm throws, all these things are really really good with her. You can’t stop it.”
Bas is a big fan of Conor McGregor “I love this guy, man.” Pointing out that the Irish sensation is more than just a bunch of trash talk “you know he’s not just a talker, this guy can actually fight and he believes in himself 100 precent also. For a fighter, that is such a powerful thing to have.” The official prediction from Bas for the fight “[It will come down to] who could deal with the pressure the most. And to me McGregor seems to deal very good with pressure. Aldo, if he’s too angry he can over-commit to strikes. Maybe he’s going to make a mistake in there. It’s a close fight man. It’s going to be a very close fight. On one side I think it’s going to be a knockout. On the other side I think it probably will go five rounds, but I have no clue. Like this is really split down the middle.”
When it comes to Conor McGregor’s statement about being able to beat Floyd Mayweather Bas couldn’t agree more “I think Mayweather is in a lot of trouble with my answers, because I think Pacquiao is going to knock him out. I hope so. And Conor [McGregor] too. I don’t think he could do it in 30 seconds, because Mayweather has great foot work. He’s gotta lock him up. And it’s in a ring that makes it actually easier for Conor. Because if there’s a corner, he can drive him into the corner and then see if he can take him down. But yeah, Conor should not box with him.”
While on the subject of boxing Bas discussed a fight between him and Evander Holyfield which almost came together “I was almost actually fighting Holyfied at one time. Evander Holyfield. Yeah, kickboxing match. But then they called me and they suddenly said ‘no more knees’. And then they called me like a week later again ‘no more low kicks’. They started taking all the weapons away. It was hilarious, but then he chose to get back into boxing. But that was pretty close to happening.”
Brock Lesnar retiring from MMA was difficult for many fans around the world however Bas believes Brock made the right decision “Yes it’s the right decision. No he shouldn’t do MMA anymore. Because you could tell that he didn’t enjoy to get hit.” Bas wasn’t too impressed with Lesnar’s lack of improvement in his striking during his fighting career “Either in training you’re not going all the way, or they tell their sparring partners that they cannot hit the head. It’s something that is not forbidden. You cannot shy away from punches, because that doesn’t work in Mixed Martial Arts. You have to fix that problem. We didn’t see him fix it over the time.”
Bas also recalled a time Mark Kerr gave him shot him up with pain medication to help deal with his excruciating tendinitis. Mark accidentally gave away his drug issues through the incident “I have tears coming out of my eyes – you know I say ‘I gotta go to the hospital. You guys keep training. I gotta go to the hospital. I gotta do something. Somebody’s gotta give me something. I can’t handle this anymore’. And Mark Kerr says ‘no’. He packed up all the stuff and he says ‘let’s go the hotel. I got something for you’. And I didn’t care anymore. At that moment, I did not care about anything anymore. I just wanted the pain to be away. On the way to the hotel I’m in freakin’ pain, you know – in my career I couldn’t eat anymore from the pain. So that’s how much [it hurt] – and we get to his room and he pulls out a bottle and syringe. And I look at him, and he looks at me, and I go ‘go ahead’. You know I didn’t care anymore. And he grabbed my arm and he shoots me up, and he says ‘five seconds, It’ll be away’ and he shoots me up. And yeah, five seconds it was away, but I was gone for the whole night. I was slurring my speech, I was sweating profusely. I wanted to go to dinner with friends. I was sitting there but I couldn’t eat, and I looked at him and I said ‘how can you fight on this?’. You know? ‘How is that even possible?’. And he says ‘well, you get used to it I guess, you know?’. But to me, arrrgghh it was like the worst thing I could do. You know, you cannot imagine to step on a treadmill in that situation. But that gave him kind of away with me, because I started sweating, and I always asked him ‘why are you sweating so much?’. So as soon as I started sweating, I remember I was all looped up and I looked at him and I said ‘now you gave yourself away. Now I know why you’re sweating. So I want you to stop that stuff’.
Speaking of drugs Bas discussed Jon Jones and his recent cocaine usage “If you want do that stuff, Jesus do it after your fight, and make sure you stay home. And weed out the people around you, you know the people that gave it to you, who introduced you to the cocaine. Get these people out, man. They’re bad people. If it’s somebody close to you, that’s not your friend. If one of my friends would do that to me in the peak of my career, I would say ‘man, get away from me’. But everybody wants to be with Jon because it’s logic. Everybody wants to be with the champ.” “he really needs to sit back and say ‘okay, this is the guy that would do this to me. You leave please’. And then all the other guys. Weed them out. Get rid of them.”
Plus Bas talks Anderson Silva and Steriods, why he could have coached Chuck Liddell to beat anyone and the real reason he parted ways with Kimbo Slice and not longer trains him.
Interview link: http://bit.ly/1D6q0uF
Transcript
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao prediction and thoughts on if Conor McGregor could beat Mayweather
“I think Mayweather is in a lot of trouble with my answers, because I think Pacquiao is going to knock him out. I hope so. And Conor [McGregor] too. I don’t think he could do it in 30 seconds, because Mayweather has great foot work. He’s gotta lock him up. And it’s in a ring that makes it actually easier for Conor. Because if there’s a corner, he can drive him into the corner and then see if he can take him down. But yeah, Conor should not box with him.”
Thoughts on Conor McGregor and the world tour
“I love this guy, man. You know listen, and everybody knows Jose Aldo has been my favourite fighter al the time, and I thought McGregor will have no chance against Jose a couple of fights ago, and now the way he’s taking it to people, and his weird style, and his stamina, and his confidence. You know I really start to think now ‘wow! This guy is really good’. On top of the talk – you know he’s not just a talker, this guy can actually fight and he believes in himself 100 precent also. For a fighter, that is such a powerful thing to have. You know in your mind, if you can’t lose. Yeah, it’s what he says, they’re literally going to have to pretty much kill this guy in order to quit, because otherwise he won’t quit. And trust me, Aldo knows this also. Now Aldo is very angry as well because I saw him walking around with his rosary [beads], but the language that came out was the opposite. You know, ‘I’m going to cut his head off, I’m going to do this’. But you know the fact that he took his belt. The way that he did that, he put his feet on the table and then Aldo puts his feet on the table, and then right away used that momentum. It’s like a set-up. You know, he was baiting him and then he grabbed the belt, and then the whole audience went nuts. I wish I would have been there, man. I think it’s hilarious. I think it’s going to be one of the biggest pay per views ever. I truly believe so. I think this is especially the first time a lighter weight class is going to get……this could go over a million pay per view buys. I truly believe this.”
On who wins between McGregor and Aldo
“The thing was this, if he would have done [this fight] three fights ago, I would say maybe Conor’s going to get it now. And the sole reason for that is because Aldo is an extremely explosive fighter, and the only downside that he had was stamina in the past. But now the last few fights went five rounds, and he’s still strong in the fifth round. So he definitely worked on his stamina department and is a very scary fighter. Also, you better believe that there’s a picture of Conor McGregor on his mirror every morning when he wakes up (laughs). Like a Rocky style and he’s going to crush that picture and he’s going to try really hard. On the other side, there’s a guy that really wants it. You know and now he’s got to back up everything he said. The whole country is behind him. It’s gonna be a lot of pressure. [It will come down to] who could deal with the pressure the most. And to me McGregor seems to deal very good with pressure. Aldo, if he’s too angry he can over-commit to strikes. Maybe he’s going to make a mistake in there. It’s a close fight man. It’s going to be a very close fight. On one side I think it’s going to be a knockout. On the other side I think it probably will go five rounds, but I have no clue. Like this is really split down the middle.”
On Ronda Rousey being able to beat up men
“No, not yet. Of course it’s possible. Depends on who it is, but the man who’s the champion in her weight class 135? No I don’t think. She’s good, but once you start talking men and women, there’s still a difference. On the street? Listen, she cleans everybody up. And everybody out of the top 20? God knows she does it as well, but I’m just saying, pound-for-pound, the same weight class, and the champion as well? I don’t think [so]. A long time ago Lucia Rijker had no more opponents. She was the Dutch female and kickboxer and boxer, undefeated in boxing, undefeated in kickboxing. I mean 80 percent or higher knockout rate, just nobody wanted to fight her. Even Ali. Laila Ali didn’t want to fight her, Christy Martin at the time didn’t want to fight her. She was just a total animal. And she ran out of opponents, and she said ‘I want to fight a guy’ and she chose the lumpinee stadium champion from Thailand. You know and yeah, she lost that one. And of course you go, get a guy out of the top ten first. Warm up to this. Why would you go right away go to a champion? So no. I still think it would be with the guy, but that’s just because the difference. That’s why guys…..you know look at track and field. Tell me one thing in track in field that the women do better. It’s just because of the way they’re built. I’m not saying they’re weaker, but it’s just because of the way they’re built. It’s just, the guys jump higher, further, sprint faster, and it’s just genetics. And that transforms also in fighting of course. So that would be my answer.”
On who wins between Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyrbog
“Cyborg I would have said a long time ago. Now, with Ronda is getting better in the striking and looking good at that, you know it’s going to be a hard fight. She needs only one clinch. Because if she has the clinch, I think she can take Cyborg to the ground. And once it goes on the ground, well we know that’s going to be a problem for Cyborg. So Cyborg needs to do…if I were her, man I would go to the Olympic training centre in Colorado and I would train there with all the Olympic wrestlers. It’s the only thing I would do. Non-stop. And do not clinch. Whatever you do, do not clinch with Rousey because her hip throws, arm throws, all these things are really really good with her. You can’t stop it. Even when Cyborg is really strong, I think Rousey is in that same strength level almost. She has that natural strength, you can see the way she’s built you, can see her mind. More people say that now she’s like the female Mike Tyson. She has a whole mindset when she walks to the cage. Nobody can distract her. It’s tough cookie to beat man. She’s just very, very tough.”
On if Brock Lesnar retiring from WWE was the right decision
“Yes it’s the right decision. No he shouldn’t do MMA anymore. Because you could tell that he didn’t enjoy to get hit. You know? And I’m not saying that a fighter needs to enjoy getting hit, but at least they shouldn’t be afraid of it. Once you start looking away from punches, that means that something you’re doing wrong here. Either in training you’re not going all the way, or they tell their sparring partners that they cannot hit the head. It’s something that is not forbidden. You cannot shy away from punches, because that doesn’t work in Mixed Martial Arts. You have to fix that problem. We didn’t see him fix it over the time. If the heart is not in it, man it’s like with me; after I lost my last time I was so angry with myself. I could not believe that I still couldn’t do the ground game. I just started doing it two to three times a day, every day, and then suddenly it started clicking. Click, click, click, you know? You work on your weaknesses. That’s what you do. And you know I didn’t see that with him. He’s a phenomenal athlete, don’t get me wrong, but yeah. No, I think it’s the right decision for him.”
On if Anderson Silva’s steroid tests hurt his legacy or if leg injury gives him leeway
“No, it will hurt his legacy. Or he fights three more fights at least and he makes sure that he gets tested, you know every week people come by and [test him] – That’s what I would do as a fighter to make sure people know I’m absolutely clean – and then fight those three more fights. Fight them well. That’s also a thing that he needs to do, because otherwise people can say “ah you see! In the past [he fought better]”. Because this is the big conspiracy theory right? And it’s all of the internet. People automatically assume, they say ‘okay, if he would have looked different this time’. Like if he would have packed more muscle and everything, then everybody could have said [it was the first time], but he looked the same as he always looked, you know? And that’s why the people now are going to say ‘wait a minute, but he looked the same as he always looked. So maybe in the past…’ you know? And then those questions come up. And it’s a shame because god knows he never did anything, but that’s just how it goes, man. People always gravitate towards the negativity. Whenever something’s negative, then they’ll jump on that and they forget all the good that he did.”
On if Anderson breaking his leg gave him an excuse to use steroids
“Also that was the other thing, he denied it. He denied it for two weeks. I was on the show, they said he was caught, I said he probably did that to recoup from his leg faster. I always said with my stance on steroids that I’m heavy against it, but I always say this: if the doctor tells you ‘listen you’re going to be out for a year, but if you take some steroids I could probably get you fighting in half a year’. Now since it’s your profession, I say do it. Take the steroids. Do it. Just make sure it’s out of your system. But with Anderson, he denied it for like two weeks; ‘absolutely not’, and then suddenly changed the story and he said ‘yeah, but it was to recoup from the leg injury’. See if he would have right away that day said ‘yeah I got it from the doctor because it would make me heal faster’, you see then that other story wouldn’t have been out there that he was denying it and denying it.”
On Joe Rogan suggesting there was a high possibility Fedor was on steroids in Pride
“In my book you could never say that until somebody got popped and it’s 100 precent certain. I would never touch that. It’s still a thing. I have guys who fought me and who said to people ‘oh he’s gotta be on steroids, because I was on steroids when I fought him and he was stronger than I am’. That’s called genetics dude. And if you want to piss me off, then you say ‘oh yeah, you used as well’. Because these dumb knuckleheads they go like ‘oh yeah, Bas says he never used. Everybody is using’. It’s not true. I’m not using. Throw me on a lie detector test. I’ll pass any lie detector test 100 precent sure in my whole career”
(Bas mentioned that he is currently on TRT to help recover from his neck surgery in December 2014)
Funny story about drug testing in Pride
“In Japan they asked me, they wanted to do the ‘Bas tour’. And the Bas tour was me with a camera, going backstage and going to the dressing rooms with the fighters, interviewing them and showing people at home ‘oh this is where they warm up, this is where they do this, this is where they do that’. And I walked into the room with the doctors, and as soon as I walked into the room with the doctors I looked at the right and I see all these tiny cups there. They’re all the pee tests there, right? I know they’ve been testing. So right away I turn around and I tell the camera crew, I said ‘give me one second. Let me talk to the people here, to the doctors if its okay for you guys to come in’. So I closed the door. Right away I grab another cup and I see green tea. I put green tea in the cup and I put that cup next to all the other pee tests and I put a lid on it, because they all had a lids on them and a name, right? So then I open the door and I say ‘yeah the doctor said it’s okay. We can come in’ and I show these people everything. Suddenly I say ‘oh my god. Look at that! These are the pee tests from tonight! Wouldn’t it be great if you could taste what fighter it is?’. And these people, they look at me like ‘what is he going to do?’. So I take the cup with the green tea and I smell it. I say ‘ah it’s gotta be an American fighter’. And then I took a drink, and then when I swallow it, people start freaking out. I go ‘it’s Mark Coleman!”
“Just because I did that, I know for a fact that they were testing. Because I saw like 20 or 30 cups standing there.”
On wishing he could have coached Chuck Liddell and the belief that he could have beaten Anderson Silva and anybody with a few minor modifications to his style
“I’m a huge Chuck Liddell fan and I know for a fact that if I – and it’s not because of me, any good coach – if I could have talked to him for like three months, and training, and three months talking – because his problem was only in his mind. His problem is that he likes to knock out people a lot. And if he dazes somebody, you know he goes in for the kill and sometimes he over-committed, because all the losses – look at the last losses he had – is when he starts, when he rocks somebody and then he opens up, and then suddenly he gets hit. And I think if there’s a coach who could really talk to him and say ‘listen, step down, take a beat. You have a lot of time. If you rock somebody, you know normally that’s an 8 count. So you have at least 20 seconds’. And 20 seconds is a lot of time in the cage or in the ring.’ Just step back, relax, and then go back at it. You know? Then you’re going to knock the guy out’. I still would have put him up against anybody. Even Anderson Silva at the time when Chuck retired. Because Chuck is something, man. This guy can hit, and he’s got a great heart, and he’s always there to fight, and that’s why the people love him.”
Thoughts on Melvin Guillard dropping the ball with WSOF and not sending in his medicals
“I don’t know. I think he needs to put his life in order. Listen, I love Melvin. He’s a great guy and I really do, but you know if it was my company and if he came overweight again like he did, I would have never let him fight again for the World Series of Fighting. But that’s me. Because he had too many warnings right now. I think super unprofessional not to be on weight. It’s the worst thing. Now, suddenly the title fight is gone. Thankfully they were still fighting, but what if the fight goes out? What if it’s off because he misses weight? You simply can’t do that stuff. So he needs to get his life back on track. But you know working at the strip club, I don’t know if that’s the greatest thing for him to do right now because there is a lot of distractions there I guess, right? He’s gotta really watch out. He’s a super explosive guy. You know he just needs a lot of wrestling and go to just a sole ground game school. Go to Eddie [Bravo], Gracie academy, ATT, you know? You need to work a lot on the ground.”
On Bas almost fighting Evander Holyfield
“I was almost actually fighting Holyfied at one time. Evander Holyfield. Yeah, kickboxing match. But then they called me and they suddenly said ‘no more knees’. And then they called me like a week later again ‘no more low kicks’. They started taking all the weapons away. It was hilarious, but then he chose to get back into boxing. But that was pretty close to happening.”
On why Bas and Kimbo Slice parted ways and he no longer trains him
“He’s never been too used to a professional. Like if I say 10 o’clock, it’s 10 o’clock with me. I’ll probably be there five minutes before ten, or even sooner. You know I’ll be never too late to a thing, and you know he had injuries here, injuries there. So slowly but surely [he was] showing up late here, showing up late there. And then I told him, I said ‘we can’t do this like this. If you want to train with me my time is so valuable’. I already had to split myself with a good friend of mine Randy Katami, and I told him, I said ‘man if you could take him in the afternoon because he’s a boxing coach. You do the focus mitts and all the conditioning with him, then I’ll do all the ground work and the complete MMA with him. And so for me to schedule things at 10 o’clock in the morning, you know it’s hard for me to schedule two classes a week with what I’m doing here at my gym, and that’s at 6 o’clock pm. So if I suddenly add like five or six workouts, I really need to plan that. And that was kind of the thing for me. And then he had that big fight at the end, and he has those injuries anyway. So why would we…..you know I knew he couldn’t do MMA anymore. He was going to focus more on boxing.”
On who would win between a prime Ken Shamrock and Frank Shamrock
“I think if they [fought] with the weight a little bit closer together and both in their prime; I think that Frank started to understand sooner than anybody else that stamina was a very important thing also. And I think Frank with his stamina and constantly pressing in fights, he could have pulled that one off, but you know they’re both different weight classes. Frank is what, 185? And Ken what, 220? I don’t know what he is right now. So they [would have] had to both meet at a weight that is good for both guys. But yeah, I would think at the end, both in their prime, you know Frank being the five-time UFC champion, a lot of people don’t realize that. You know I would slightly favour Frank maybe, yeah.”