Bas Rutten: ‘I have zero respect for Kimbo Slice’
“I misjudged him, he turned into a whole different person. I told him a few weeks ago, I had a sit down with him. I told him that he was an asshole and that I have zero respect (for him) and I cant train people that I have no respect for. Can’t ever. He just turned into a different guy, he didn’t need to do the things that I told him to do. He wasn’t going to go to the ground, you know? He learned some things but he started to forget them. In the Thompson fight he did some great escapes in round number one but once fatigue hit him, he didn’t do anything. And what I didn’t like about the Thompson fight as well was he said afterwards ‘Yeah, we planned on fighting three rounds’ and I told him ‘Don’t say that, you were lucky the referee didn’t stop the fight in the second round’. Don’t say we planned to fight three rounds, it wasn’t a plan. If (my students) don’t do what I say, they are out. I am there for the best interests of the fighters, I want them to win. If they don’t accept that, bye bye.”
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and three-time King of Pancrase Bas Rutten discussess his falling out with one-time star pupil Kevin Ferguson after “Kimbo Slice” decided that “El Guapo” was more of a talking head than a experienced trainer. Slice limped to victory against James Thompson at Elite XC ‘Primetime’ in May 2008 and then got clowned by a marshmallow fade-away jab from Seth Petruzelli at ‘Heat’ last November. Now Kimbo is trying to fight his way back into relevancy as a contenstant on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. It’s do or die for the former Miami street brawler — and perhaps vindication for Rutten, who went out on a limb to try and help Slice become a real mixed martial artist.
“I misjudged him, he turned into a whole different person. I told him a few weeks ago, I had a sit down with him. I told him that he was an asshole and that I have zero respect (for him) and I cant train people that I have no respect for. Can’t ever. He just turned into a different guy, he didn’t need to do the things that I told him to do. He wasn’t going to go to the ground, you know? He learned some things but he started to forget them. In the Thompson fight he did some great escapes in round number one but once fatigue hit him, he didn’t do anything. And what I didn’t like about the Thompson fight as well was he said afterwards ‘Yeah, we planned on fighting three rounds’ and I told him ‘Don’t say that, you were lucky the referee didn’t stop the fight in the second round’. Don’t say we planned to fight three rounds, it wasn’t a plan. If (my students) don’t do what I say, they are out. I am there for the best interests of the fighters, I want them to win. If they don’t accept that, bye bye.”
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and three-time King of Pancrase Bas Rutten discussess his falling out with one-time star pupil Kevin Ferguson after “Kimbo Slice” decided that “El Guapo” was more of a talking head than a experienced trainer. Slice limped to victory against James Thompson at Elite XC ‘Primetime’ in May 2008 and then got clowned by a marshmallow fade-away jab from Seth Petruzelli at ‘Heat’ last November. Now Kimbo is trying to fight his way back into relevancy as a contenstant on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. It’s do or die for the former Miami street brawler — and perhaps vindication for Rutten, who went out on a limb to try and help Slice become a real mixed martial artist.