How would Bas Rutten do in MMA today?

[jitzmonkey]

He would be a more evolved fighter because training methods have evolved. All old fighters would be more evolved than they were back then. In all seriousness, it's kind of a silly question.

 

[neil_totally]

He would be a more evolved fighter because training methods have evolved. All old fighters would be more evolved than they were back then. In all seriousness, it's kind of a silly question.

this is similar to what I was gonna say. Bas showed an incredibly high fight IQ, and an insane ability to not only learn new skills quickly, but to be able to successfully put them into practice almost immediately. If he was around today and being the fighter and sponge he was back then, there's no reason to think he wouldn't be a monster.

 

[yougotabeeonyourhat]

Terrible.

He's 53 years old and has been retired since 1999.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

He would Bas em around

 

[TidWell]

How would he have done against the modern HW and LHW divisions of today?

He would definitely have to work on his TDD, but Bas was a bad dude. One of the best strikers in the sports history.

He would probably get taken down like crazy, if you watch the Randleman fight he was nervous like he saw a ghost before the fight started, how the hell did he win a fight off his back getting wrestled and roughed up?

After that fight Bas retired, if he continued guys like Randy Couture, Vitor, Tito Ortiz, Don Frye would have probably did some damage on him.

Prime Wandy would have mauled him, he retired at the right time.

Bas didn't like to cut weight and he fought at his walk around weight of 210 pounds, so he was already undersized, if he fought today he would have to fight at 185 but he didn't cut weight so who knows.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

That highlight video looked like a mix of staged wrestling shit and guys getting tapped by guillotines even in half guard.

 

[TidWell]

Bas is the same guy who laughed and said a Jab is useless in MMA, yet the Jab is one of the most used tools in the UFC today lol

 

[heavy_hands]

he'd lose about as many as he'd win...good striking but horrible Tdd. he would suffer many losses due to ground and pound and submissions. Randleman got robbed big time and Basito knows it.

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

I honestly think if you put him at HW today he'd do pretty well

he'd probably get eaten alive at LHW though

 

[horc00]

All these hypothetical prime-fighter-from-the-past vs prime-fighter-of-today discussions almost never ends well because everyone's on a different page.

Are you:

1. Transporting a prime Bas from the past and immediately pitting him against a prime fighter of today?
2. Transporting a pre-prime Bas from the past, letting him train years with today's elite fighters and with today's advanced strength and conditioning techniques, and then pitting him against a prime fighter of today?

 

[TidWell]

That highlight video looked like a mix of staged wrestling shit and guys getting tapped by guillotines even in half guard.

Sadly most of those fights of his were fixed fights in Japan, he was knocking guys out with palm strikes yet he couldn't bust a grape in MMA with closed fists

Imagine if he fought TitoOrtiz or Vitor Belfort in their primes?

 

[YOLOGOGOPLATA]

Hardly any at LHW or HW ever try to grapple these days. Everyone wants to stand and bang and that is his realm, so I would say he would do pretty good.

It seems like it’s ingrained in guys head these days that one punch can end things quickly (which is true). It takes an extreme amount of confidence for a LHW/HW to take a fight to the ground... DC does it sometimes and Blaydes uses mostly wrestling but that’s about it for the top talent. If you aren’t confident enough it seem u are banking on a big shot to end the fight instead of being true to yourself when that may not be effective. Wrestling at the high weight classes is like point fighting for the lighter fighters IMO

 

[D'z]

He'd be champ champ

 

[gono btw]

Sadly most of those fights of his were fixed fights in Japan, he was knocking guys out with palm strikes yet he couldn't bust a grape in MMA with closed fists

Imagine if he fought TitoOrtiz or Vitor Belfort in their primes?

"Must be true..."

 

[Based and White Pilled]

I think he only loses to talented wrestle-boxers at LHW. I honestly think he'd be top 5 in today's LHW division.

 

[111293]

this is similar to what I was gonna say. Bas showed an incredibly high fight IQ, and an insane ability to not only learn new skills quickly, but to be able to successfully put them into practice almost immediately. If he was around today and being the fighter and sponge he was back then, there's no reason to think he wouldn't be a monster.

Agree with all of that, plus the fact he had a heart of a lion and was a godam madman.
Don’t see many like him in any era.

 

[The Bard]

The New Breed nonsense aside, he'd be very good. He was lean, athletic, very skilled in the striking game, and capable of learning new things. Like a better version of OSP, basically.

Dudes like Shogun, Overeem, and Werdum are still relevant. No reason Bas couldn't have adapted. He certainly had the athleticism and brains.

 

[gono btw]

Guys like Bas or even Tiger White are legit representative of the evolution from NHB/Vale Tudo days to MMA.

Early Pancrase & Rings were a decisive stage of this evolution because they fostered the creation of Modern teams willing to do Modern Cross-training.

In particular, the prohibition of GNP was a supreme idea since it enabled fighters to showcase their grappling & submission skills, or work on them, if they were pure strikers...

This evolution then flourished in Early Pride [b4 the knee-to-a-downed-opponent rule].

Consider Bas a Modern Fighter.

 

[justbetter]

bush league champion unable to hold a win streak

 

[Based and White Pilled]

I know people want to think he would somehow do super well, but if we have learned anything from watching MMA over the years it’s that each new cohort of fighters is almost universally better than any of the previous cohorts in terms of pure skill level. The only exception to that would be the current cohort of fighters. I think they are actually less skilled than the previous one, but are typical much larger than they are. But that’s a debate for another time.

I'm not sure exactly where you're drawing the lines to separate these 'cohorts', but I'm pretty sure I disagree. (That's a really strange way to use that word, btw.) I think the floor has gone up significantly more in MMA than the ceiling. I think 2008-2009 BJ Penn could hang with any lightweight in the world. Same goes for GSP, Fedor, Anderson, and Sakurai at their peaks. I think the guys outside the top 10 of any given division are way better now than they used to be, though. I think 2008 GSP and Anderson would beat the current champs in their divisions, actually.