Why the Relaxed Man Always Wins (with Bas Rutten)

The most feared striker in MMA history spent this conversation talking about calm.

Before his first fight in Japan, Bas Rutten wrote one letter on each fist with a marker: R, for rustig, Dutch for relaxed. He'd found out that morning his opponent was 33 pounds heavier, the round was thirty minutes long, and there were no rules he recognised. Mid-fight he was calm enough to overhear two spectators in the front row discussing a house move, and that was when he noticed the two voices in him. The aggressive one, and the one that kept him still.

He retired without losing any of his last 22 fights and credits the whole run to that discovery.

We talk about why the relaxed fighter beats the aggressive one nine times out of ten, the skin disease and asthma that made him the outcast of his school and which he now calls a blessing, the difference between anger and aggression, the single line that ended his drinking, and where Stoicism and the Catholic faith he returned to line up almost exactly.

He also walks through the practices he runs daily: the pre-fight question "what's the worst thing that can happen?", the friend test for anger, and an evening examination of conscience he has kept for twelve years that Seneca describes almost word for word.

Follow Bas Rutten:
YouTube: youtube.com/user/OfficialBasRutten
Instagram: @basruttenmma
Website: basrutten.com
The O2Trainer, the breathing device he invented: o2trainer.com
His MMA Workout audio, the striking tape I mention my friend Joel wearing out: o2trainer.com/products/bas-rutten-s-mixed-martial-arts-workout-dvd

Companion article and full show notes: stoichandbook.co/bas-rutten-staying-calm