Former MMA star thriving as teacher and announcer

	Injuries ended Bas Rutten's fighting career, but he's managed to stay busy in the sport. Michael Bezjian/WireImage.com
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Bas Rutten is crazy. He has to be. He's lying on his back inside of his gym in Thousand Oaks, Calif. and telling Kimbo Slice, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound mountain of muscle, to attack him. Not only is he telling this human destruction machine to pummel him, he's teaching him the best way to do it.

"That's the way you do it," he says in between grunts. "That's the way."

Look closely into the eyes of Rutten as he gets off the mat, still coaching Slice as he tells him to put him in a rear bear hug and it becomes clear that he might not be as crazy as he looks.

"I love teaching," says Rutten, a legendary MMA fighter and the sport's most colorful color commentator. "I love teaching ... how to be in the ring, how to keep calm, everything. Not just, teach you a technique. No, I'll teach you how to really make an impact so that they'll never forget."

Slice, a legendary backyard, bare-knuckle fighter, certainly made an impact in his MMA debut. He defeated former world champion boxer Ray Mercer on Saturday in Atlantic City using a guillotine choke hold that Rutten taught him during their training sessions.

It's been more than seven years since Rutten, 42, won the UFC heavyweight championship and was subsequently forced into early retirement after suffering a litany of injuries, including a torn biceps, blown-out knee and severe neck pain, while training to defend his title, but few fighters are as well-known and beloved as the man they call "El Guapo."

Rutten is the MMA's version of John Madden and Don Cherry wrapped into one shiny Vin Diesel package. As the color commentator for the International Fight League and the host of IFL Battleground, Rutten's quirky style and observations are almost as entertaining as the fights.

"It came naturally to me because they let me be me," said Rutten, sitting on the edge of the ring at his Elite MMA Gym. "I know I got a crazy, unique personality. There's not a lot of Bas'; that's one thing that I know for sure. And, the thing is, it's not an act. I'm always being like this and my wife's going nuts at home. I can't slow down. I enjoy making people laugh and entertaining them."

While there are still Web pages dedicated to his off-the-wall commentary during his days broadcasting for Pride Fighting Championships ("I think he must have hit him with the Dim Mak. He shoved his nose into his brain I think."), Rutten's most famous foray into comedy was an unintentional one.

About four years ago Rutten, who has put together a number instructional videos, released Bas Rutten's Lethal Street Fighting, a self-defense system designed to give viewers the skills and combat techniques needed to defend themselves in a street fight. On the surface, right down to the picture of Rutten punching some helpless soul on the cover, there doesn't seem to be anything comical about the tape. Yet, in this YouTube age, the highlights of the video with Rutten's colorful commentary, made it an instant Internet classic and turned Rutten into a viral superstar.

"I never thought it would get this big," said Rutten, who has parlayed his Internet fame into MMAToday.com, a site where he showcases behind the scenes videos from fighters around the world. "My friend called me one day and said, 'Bas, check your e-mail. I just sent something to you.' I saw it, and I was crying from laughter. It was insane. I called my wife and said, 'You gotta check this out!' Everyone knows me from that video now."

The actual video is an hour and 45 minutes, but it will forever be remembered for the six-minute highlight real of Rutten offering up such gems as, "I don't believe in an eye for an eye, I believe in 'two eyes' for an eye," "Everybody underestimates the kick to the groin," and "Once we get the choke, we can play fun games like pull the pants down and hide the spice bottle!" Not to mention the sound effects he makes as he pretends to pummel his opponent at his friend's restaurant in Westlake Village.

"I always make sounds," said Rutten, a three-time King of Pancrease who owns a 28-4-1 MMA record. "That's always been me. So they cropped six minutes of the sounds and I thought it was great. People take everything too seriously. That's why I do this. I think that the way I teach, they're going to always remember that technique because I attached that funny story to it."

As Rutten trains others fighters though, there is a part of him that wishes he were still in the ring as he watches the sport he joined at the ground level in 1993 evolve into the fastest growing sport in the world. "Sometimes I wish that I was born eight years later," said Rutten, who returned to the ring last year for one final fight where he knocked out Ruben Villareal with leg kicks in the first round. "That would have been the best for me, of course, but thank God for the IFL."

The IFL, which began last year, gave Rutten and other legendary MMA fighters an opportunity to return to the fight game as coaches for the league's 12 teams. Their unique business plan which allows fighters to share more of the profits of the sport and earn a salary and health benefits to train and fight, has already attracted the likes of such MMA greats such as Pat Miletich, Maurice Smith, Renzo Gracie and Ken and Frank Shamrock, many of whom compete in "Super Fights" after their teams have battled.

"I started out as a coach and put a team together and then you start putting your strength into those guys and then once you see that happening in the fight, it's kind of like you're fighting yourself," said Rutten, who coached the Los Angeles Anacondas. "So that was a good experience for me to do that."

But it was only a matter of time before the IFL realized Rutten was better suited behind the microphone than a ring post.

"The people from MyNetwork TV and Fox asked me if I wanted to do that and I said that I moved to America to be in entertainment and I thought it was a great opportunity for me to do it," said Rutten, who stepped down as the Anacondas' coach in March. "In the beginning, they wanted me to do both [coach and announce], but then we realized there was going to be a conflict of interest. I'm going to sit in on every conversation and know the ins and outs from the other fighters and teams. It's not going to be right. I can understand that the coaches are going to complain so that's why I gave up my position and focused on TV."

That's good news for fight fans who can still tune in every week just to hear what "El Guapo" will say next.