Karate Combat 37 scrum with Bas Rutten

We caught up with martial arts legend Bas Rutten ahead of the Karate Combat 37 event.

Martial arts legend Bas Rutten has been involved with Karate Combat since its inception, being an ambassador to the sport and providing fight commentary. Bloody Elbow had the opportunity to catch up with the UFC’s former heavyweight champion on the set of Karate Combat 37 at the back lot of Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Rutten talked about the growth of Karate Combat, from when it first debuted in 2018 to where it is now. Bas also talked about what career path he would have chosen had he not chosen the martial arts route.

“I’m a chef,” said Rutten when asked on where his life might have gone had he not become a professional fighter. “I went to four years of culinary school, the French cuisine. I will probably be that or I always thought about video editing. Like, making trailers. I always enjoyed doing that. Just myself, like sometimes I make videos. People are like, ‘Who put that together for you?’ and I say, I did that. ... It takes a lot of time, but it’s a lot of fun. ... I also thought about DJing, but I believe I would go back to my roots which is being a chef.”

The event is scheduled to start at 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT and will be streaming live and for free on the promotion’s YouTube channel (link at bottom of page).

Main card:

Raymond Daniels vs. Rafael Aghayev: Interim Welterweight Title

Eoghan Chelmiah vs. Jesus Lopez: Bantamweight Title

Gabriel Varga vs. Tommy Azouz: Lightweight

Samuel Ericsson vs. Tarek Khelifi: Lightweight

Prelims:

Rob Buxton vs. Sasha Palatnikov: Middleweight

Andres Madera vs. Maciej Tercjak: Lightweight

Maximo Nunez vs. Gabriel Stankunas: Bantamweight

Gabo Diaz vs. Samy Ennkhaili: Lightweight

Disclosure: Karate Combat covered the author’s travel expenses for this event.