Bas Rutten will be keeping a close eye on UFC 223.
This past Saturday, Rutten attended a special event in Queens College. He along with Duane Ludwig provided demonstrations to students both young and old on some techniques to use in mixed martial arts. MMA News was on the scene for Super Seminar World Series.
Rutten was in a cast, but that didn’t slow him down one bit during the seminar. He explained his injury to MMA News:
“I just hit something the wrong way and I broke my pinky. And apparently if your pinky is destroyed you have to put on the whole cast so that’s what I’m working with now.”
When we spoke with “El Guapo” last year, he was promoting his debut on “Kevin Can Wait.” He gave us an update on the show and his other ventures.
“I do Kevin Can Wait on CBS now. We’re on hiatus so we’re waiting to see if we’ll get renewed, let’s hope for a third season and then we’ll take it from there. For the rest, I’m working with Professional Fighters League. That’s gonna start I believe in July again. I’m working with a new organization called Karate Combat. It’s full contact karate, it’s really cool. They put it in a special pit, I already did some commentating for them on some fights that they had. They’re international, they go around the world. It’s like watching a movie almost when you see it.”
Bas Rutten on UFC 223’s Top Fights
On April 7, UFC 223 will take place inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The card features two title fights. Interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will meet Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event. Rose Namajunas puts her strawweight title on the line against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a rematch.
Rutten explained why he believes Namajunas vs. Jedrzejczyk II will be different this go-round.
“That’s gonna be very hard. Rose and Joanna I think is gonna be a different fight. I think Jedrzejczyk now really knows that she has to watch out. I think it’s gonna be much more competitive. I didn’t expect that Rose was unbelievable (with her timing in the first fight). The way she landed that left hook, that gave her a little boost. She’s the champ now she wants to stay the champ of course so that’s gonna make her stronger. But then of course, Jedrzejczyk wants her title back and she’s an animal so I wonder what this fight is going to do. I think Jedrzejczyk learned to stomp out the trash talking a little bit. Focus on the fight, that’s why I never trash talked because you bring all this pressure on yourself.”
Rutten then gave his assessment of Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov, which he admits is a tossup.
“Khabib and Tony, that’s a difficult fight to call. That’s such a hard one. I think that if Tony pushes like he always does he might even outwork Khabib. And that is something crazy to say, I know that but Ferguson I think is the most conditioned athlete we have in the UFC. This guy can push, push, push beyond and he keeps on pushing. Even more than Cain Velasquez, that’s his power to have super stamina and of course he has great technique.”
