I asked Bas Rutten about violence

Bas Rutten retired without losing any of his last 22 fights. Three-time King of Pancrase. UFC heavyweight champion.

I asked him about violence. We spent most of two hours talking about calm.

Before his first fight in Japan, he found out his opponent was 33 pounds heavier and the round would last thirty minutes with no breaks. He wrote a large R on each fist.

R for rustig. Dutch for relaxed.

That letter became the thread running through our conversation: the two voices he heard mid-fight, the word that ended his drinking, and why controlling himself turned out to be harder than controlling an opponent.

You do not need to care about MMA to get something from this. The harder fight here is the one that carried on after there was nobody left to punch.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube:

Go well,

Jon