Bas Rutten was basically the small skinny guy in the Charles Atlas comic book advertisement, “The insult that made a man out of Mac.”
Bas Rutten
Rutten had two major health issues that made him a target for bullies: eczema and asthma. Puffing around the schoolyard out of breath, he got called “leper” and other epithets kids love to be called, and taunted with violence.
This went on for 14 years, until, against his parent’s wishes, little Rutten took a martial arts class and decided to stop running from the chief bully and his posse. One hard punch to said bully’s fragile resulted in a free visit to the hospital. And it changed Bas Rutten’s life forever, leading him to a career about which few athletes can boast.
Bas Rutten eventually became UFC World Champion and was inducted into the MMA (mixed martial arts) Hall of Fame. He’s also a deeply devoted Catholic convert and family man.
In this episode, you will learn:
- How a sickly young Dutch boy went from bully fodder to world champion fighter
- How the rules for MMA matches maximize the safety of the competitors
- Anecdotes galore about motivation, conviction, and the stamina it takes to be the best of the best in the world.
- His advice for parents with kids who are being bullied
- His terrifying encounters with the ghost of a dead woman and how his bold confrontation with her resolved the trouble.
- Why Bas prays all his prayers in Latin, the mother tongue of the Church.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Theology and Sanity by Frank Sheed
- Going Deeper by Leo Severino
- Born Only Once by Conrad Baars, MD
The Patrick Coffin Show podcast features weekly interviews with A-list influencers and outliers in the effort to recover the Judeo-Christian roots of the culture. Patrick is the Canadian-born former host of Catholic Answers Live, and he has raving fans around the world. He injects these fascinating interviews with his own distinctive blend of depth and levity. If you’re tired of politically correct mediaspeak, you want to see God back in the public square, and you’re not allergic to having a laugh, this is the place to be.
2 thoughts on “Faith Worth Fighting For—Bas Rutten”
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Hello Patrick,
I bet you never expected to hear form someone who is familiar with Bas Rutten. You opened a lot of childhood memories when you mentioned Bas Rutten. I was one of those kids that always got sand kicked in their face by bullies. I was tall, lanky and skinny and a wimp. I could not fight my way out of a wet paper bag.
That bothered me very much. I was an orphan kid living in an orphanage with no family surrounding me, certainly not a big brother, and I was desperate to find some peace in my life. I saw the newspaper ads in comic books and, when I was twelve, sent for literature.
The home exercise course Charles Atlas was offering cost maybe $200.00, but I had no money. When I got old enough to get a job, I purchased some light bar bells and mixed in weight lifting with the Dynamic Tension Atlas was offering. I tried to do some exercise every day. I kept those bar bell until I was maybe forty.
After I gained employment, I was invited to go to Texas A&M University and help teach a short course they were offering to young men in the agriculture industry. Remembering how tough guys always picked on me, I was terrified to go, but I went anyway. I was surprised that every one of those rugged cowboys treated me with the utmost respect, calling me Mr. Williams even. I wound up going twice a year for twenty-eight years.
That was the beginning of my healing process, I remember reading about Charles Atlas, and he was indeed a righteous man, an edifying example for everyone. Bullying is endemic in human culture, but nobody knows it better than someone who was bullied most of his formative years.