Somewhere in the first three options, although I think champion might be far-fetched. Certainly not irrelevant though, Bas was ahead of his time skillset wise without a doubt imo. I have much love for Bas though.
If he fought the same as he did back then but was still in his prime, he MIGHT be Top 10 but I doubt it. He'd have to adapt to the changes in MMA. The game changes every year but I don't see Bas beating the likes of Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, or even some people further down the ladder like Ryan Bader who are gonna put him on his back.
Bas was one of the first "smart fighters" who knew exactly what he needed to learn to be successful and was awesome athlete in his prime. No doubt he would of been one of the best today, the guy is the full package.
This. Bas is a very smart person/fighter. I think he would have the skills and ability to change his game according to the needs of the game. He has what it takes to have been top 5 easy IMO.
With the skills he had in his prime I don't think he would stand a chance against the wrestlers today. He was a smart guy though, probably would have had drastically improved takedown defense within a year or two.
his TDD really would have let him down i think, i could see him being a bit like dan hardy if im honest (and i really like both hardy and bas, just being realistic)
Thank god he's not so I can live in an imaginary world where he would beat everyone.
Realistically if you take his stories about cortisone injections etc. into account, he wouldn't have been able to compete under the type of testing they do now.
But my GOD did he hit hard. Even in his "return" fight against Villereal his striking looked devastating compared to most UFC fighters.
I didn't think cortisone injections were something they looked out for? I know it's looked down upon by alot of athletes due to obvious health reasons but other than that, I thought it was A okay?
If he was fighting today, his skillset would be different. He would be training with modern techniques and strategies, he would be a beast, just like he was in the past.
It's hard to think how well Bas would do today, but with that said, the man is obviously very skilled and an absolute beast. I'd go as far to say he'd still be a tough match up for anyone today as he is a very intelligent fighter. BOSH!
Randleman took him down time after time and he couldnt really do much off his back. Even in his only win against TK he spent most of the fight on his back getting hit before coming back to stop him in the 14th min.
Hockey isn't a good example with all the rule changes offensive players get so much space it's unreal. Gretzky Yzerman Mario Howe all would smash the nhl today. More like Crosby and Ovey would be in hell trouble playing with them in their time.
Football would be better anyone think the 72 dolphins or the 85 bears would even crack 500 in the modern nfl.
...I think many of the older fighters & ex-champions-even in their prime wouldn't fair well against the new, more well-rounded, highly trained coached fighters of today. We all know MMA has evolved by leaps & bounds over the years. Bas knows all the tricks of the trade, it's the aggressiveness and improved techniques of today's fighters thats on a different level...
Aggressiveness is probably not on a different level, at least not on a higher one. At Rutten's time, fighters went to a fight to put the oppenent away, today a big part of fighters gameplan to win 2 of 3 rounds. Gameplaning, that's something that really has evolved by leaps & bounds.
And I'm not so sure, whether at HW, apart from the Top5, technique has improved that much. Rutten's striking was technically better than from most of today's HWs. His problem would rather be that he'd be a very small HW today and be overpowered by the big guys.
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