In a recent interview, Bas Rutten admitted to practicing his grappling and submissions on his wife.
The former UFC heavyweight champion recently appeared on Valuetainment discussing his obsessions with becoming an elite mixed martial artist. A former UFC heavyweight champion, hall of Fame inductee, and three-time King of Pancrase world champion it is fair to say that his obsession paid off.
Detailing his career Rutten spoke of his disappointment from losing fights via submission in the early stages. After a defeat to Masakatsu Funaki and losing to Ken Shamrock via submission, Rutten believed it was time for him to make the necessary changes and remove what he considered to be one of the flaws in his game.
This would pay off, following his second defeat to Shamrock, Bas Rutten would finish his career off on an extremely impressive 22-fight unbeaten streak. From his last defeat which occurred in 1995 Rutten devoted a large portion of his time training and perfecting his techniques on the ground which ultimately led to him earning more submission victories than any other method before retiring in 2006.
Bas Rutten Talks On His Passion For BJJ
Speaking to Valuetainment Bas Rutten revealed how he had come so absorbed by Brazilian Ju Jitsu and want to excel at it that he would often use his wife to practice submissions.
The former heavyweight champion recalled on one occasion in fact when he woke his wife up in the middle of the night to practice a technique that had come to him during a dream.
‘Suddenly I became obsessed with it, I mean I became so crazy I would wake up my wife in the middle of the night because I would dream a submission, I would put her in the submissions and I would ask her where it hurt.’
Where does Bas Rutten rank for you as an all-time great?