In a recent podcast with Rampage Jackson, MMA legend Bas Rutten revealed he had created a hit list of childhood bullies and methodically got revenge on each one. This startling admission provides insight into Rutten’s early life and the origins of his renowned toughness.
As Rutten tells it, he suffered from severe bullying as a child due to a skin condition that led classmates to label him a “leper.” The torment took its toll, and he decided that he needed to do something about it.
Rutten shared:”It is true. I did make that list. After I knocked out the first guy, it was the biggest bully in my school. But the problem was he broke his nose in the process, so the police showed up. And so when I came home, and my mom and dad took me two years to beg them to do martial arts, then finally after two years because they thought it was violence, okay we’ll do it.”
“So I was training with the adults, and then in months I started beating the adults, you know. So then I overheard these guys talk about me in the dressing room, so I got more confident.”
After years of abuse, Rutten finally snapped during a confrontation with a notorious bully named Shockey. Rather than flee, Rutten stood his ground and knocked out Shockey with a single punch. However, Shockey’s broken nose led police to get involved and Rutten’s parents banned him from martial arts for being too violent.
He continued: “I was the the leper in school, I had a horrible skin disease. So they called me the leper. ‘Hey leper,’ they were on the bikes and I shouted something back this time. And they all started laughing. I look and sure enough, they stopped and start to chase me. I said this is it. And so I put my bike on the stand, on the sidewalk, and they surrounded me with the bikes. And then he came over and [said] ‘You want to hit me leper?’ I go baff and [he’s] down. That was it. I go ‘Man, this is easy you know.’ And then but the police came of course, and they pulled me off martial arts.”
Yet the thrill of standing up to his bully sparked something in Rutten. Despite his parent’s prohibition, Rutten began training in various martial arts in secret.
He said: “But now I had the bug. Now I start slipping into boxing classes here and there, you know as a new student. And you know start working, watching tapes from Bruce Lee old cassettes, and I was in the library, books, pictures and you know, imitating him. And that was it.”
With his newfound skills, Rutten decided it was time for payback against those who had tormented him for so long. He admitted: “I made a list of all the guys that have bullied me in the past and I start scratching up those names…. There was one guy that goes ‘Please boss, I don’t remember. I go, I do.”
One by one, Rutten tracked down former bullies and beat them into submission. Though Rutten’s adolescent quest for vengeance seems extreme, it illustrates the deep trauma bullying can inflict. His story reveals how martial arts granted him the confidence and skills not just to defend himself, but to finally make his abusers pay for their past sins.
