3. Bas Rutten
Rutten was a hard man to place. He received a couple of first-place votes while others had him considerably further down, with my own 10th-place vote being the lowest. That's likely no surprise considering I once wrote an entire article on his complicated legacy. A major problem for not only myself but other voters is that 29 of Rutten’s 31 fights during the 90s occurred in Pancrase. As noted under No. 5 entry Ken Shamrock, Pancrase’s rules were very different from what we consider modern MMA. Strikes with a closed fist on the feet were banned. Instead, Pancrase fighters would use the heel of the palm. Additionally, striking the head of a downed fighter was also banned, largely eliminating ground-and-pound. Moreover, fighters were encouraged to go for submission attempts on the ground but there were also rope breaks like in pro wrestling, though it would cause one to lose a point. Even the boots they wore were unique, making kicks more powerful and also making submissions aimed at the knees and ankles more effective. Again, this is wildly different than what we consider MMA today. Certainly, the lack of closed fists hurt Rutten, but the total absence of ground-and-pound was a godsend. That's because Rutten had the most unique skillset of any fighter on this list. This begins with his striking. Rutten was not a world-class striker prior to starting MMA, and utilized a bizarre, square stance with his head often leaning forward. This was great for producing powerful strikes and no one during the 90s, not even Patrick Smith, was as dangerous and as heavy a hitter as Rutten, not only from his hands but his deadly kicks, including the famous liver shot. Conversely, it also made Rutten very vulnerable to opponent strikes. Luckily, the only good striker he ever faced during his entire career was Maurice Smith (Frank Shamrock was a mediocre striker at best when Rutten faced him), and even Smith wasn't a big hitter, so this worked out great. In terms of grappling, Rutten, by his own admission, always had weak takedown defense and was also highly susceptible to ground-and-pound. However, he developed a system of submissions and sweeps that was highly effective in Pancrase. In the UFC, it was far less so, though he was able to land some good strikes from his own back. On paper, Rutten’s ledger is certainly incredible. After starting out his Pancrase career 7-4, being submitted twice by Ken Shamrock, losing a majority decision to Frank Shamrock, and being submitted by Masakatsu Funaki, but also knocking out Minoru Suzuki, Rutten would never officially lose again, including winning an amazing 18 straight in Pancrase and winning its “King of Pancrase” title. That included two submissions over Smith, two wins over Frank Shamrock to win their trilogy, one a split decision and another a stoppage due to a cut, gaining revenge over Funaki by knocking him out, a second win over Suzuki, this time by submission, and a submission of Guy Mezger. In 1999, Rutten came to the UFC, which is where matters grow even more complicated. Then-owners Semaphore Entertainment Group saw Rutten as their savior, with his face the only one adorning the poster of UFC 18, asking whether he was the world's greatest martial artist. Considering that the UFC was losing huge amounts of money every event since losing their pay-per-view distribution, Rutten was the promotion’s last hope for survival. Against skilled Japanese judoka Tsuyoshi Kosaka in the main event of UFC 18, Rutten was repeatedly taken down. At one point, Kosaka was in side control delivering heavy ground-and-pound against Rutten, who was utterly unable to minimize the damage or get up. And then, out of nowhere, referee John McCarthy stood them up. An interesting decision, especially in lieu of McCarthy once stating that “I know where the UFC's bodies are buried...I helped with some of them!” but regardless, Rutten ended up winning via thrilling knockout in overtime. Rutten then faced an even better wrestler in Kevin Randleman for the heavyweight championship at UFC 20. Randleman took down and badly beat up Rutten during the first four minutes, but then the pace slowed, and Rutten even landed some solid strikes from his back in the last minute or two. In one of the most controversial decisions ever—which I also disagreec with—Rutten garnered a split decision. Sadly, Rutten would largely retire after this due to injuries. Regardless, there is no arguing with his list of accomplishments or his status as one of MMA's first strikers to attain great success.
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