Fansided MMA
FanSided

The 10 best MMA fighters from the 1990s

By Chad Porto

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 06: Actor Bas Rutten arrives at the premiere of "The Zookeeper" at the Regency Village Theatre on July 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 06: Actor Bas Rutten arrives at the premiere of "The Zookeeper" at the Regency Village Theatre on July 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

4. Bas Rutten

Bas Rutten was one of the best Karate practitioners in the sport at the time, and his knowledge has translated well to modern combat promotion Karate Combat, where he serves as a commentator. By the time he entered MMA in 1993, Rutten was already 14-2 in kickboxing with all his wins coming by way of knockout and all but one coming in the first round. To say Rutten was known for his striking would be an understatement.

Like so many on this list, Rutten cut his teeth in Pancrase, where he saw success early but not as often as someone of his power would suggest. He was 7-4 in his first 11 fights, and couldn’t get past Ken Shamrock, who notoriously outworked Rutten with his grappling skills. Rutten was out-matched and exposed when a fighter did anything other than strike with him.

This is where Rutten’s legacy is truly defined. Instead of leaning more into his striking, Rutten adjusted his skillset and learned more grappling; making him one of the first major single-skillset stars to add a whole new wrinkle to his game. He would not lose another fight following his second loss to Shamrock and would retire 28-4-1, maintaining a 21-fight-unbeaten streak that saw him win the Pancrase openweight championship, the unified King of Pancrase championship, and the UFC heavyweight title.

He did this by defeating Maurice Smith, Kevin Randleman, Guy Mezger, Jason De Lucia, and Frank Shamrock along the way. If Rutten wasn’t forced into retirement at just 34, it’s likely that Rutten would’ve gone on to fight and defeat other UFC heavyweights at the time like Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and maybe even an eventual showdown with PRIDE heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko