Exclusive: Bas Rutten Tells All On Millen, PRIDE's Future [Pt. 2]

The following is part two of our multi-part exclusive interview with MMA legend Bas Rutten. The interview was conducted by Luis Cruz of MMANews.com on March 14, 2007.

For those who missed part one or want to read it again, click here.

BAS RUTTEN INTERVIEW – PART TWO

Luis Cruz of MMANews.com: Now moving on to the next controversial topic. I know you read our interview with Jerry Millen here at MMANews.com.

Bas Rutten: [starts laughing]

MMANews.com: Everybody's been all over this, but apparently there's maybe a little bit of fabrication in what he told me regarding your situation and the other announcers at PRIDE and that's why you're here.

Bas Rutten: It's a total fabrication.

MMANews.com: For the people who don't know – I'm going to recap it just real quick about some of the things he said that involved you and [Stephen] Quadros and [Mauro] Ranallo as well. Now you guys all pretty much pointed the finger at him being the reason of your departures. He claimed to us that he had only worked one event before Quadros was fired and that they just didn't want him. He said that you left on your own because you had some personal problems or issues with the Japanese management or something and also that Mauro decided to leave. That's what he said and that he wanted professionals in his booth and…

Bas Rutten: …let me cut you off. The best thing is this. With your interview, he said I and Mauro quit ourselves. On CBS Sports boxing interview he said that he was the reason and he got us fired because he wanted professionals. He got caught in his own web of lies. You see so this guy really doesn't know what he says anymore. This guy's a total fake. I mean it starts with his name. His name is not Jerry, it's Gary. But Jerry sounds cool to him so he calls himself Jerry now. Ask for his driver's license and it will say Gary.

MMANews.com: I didn't know that [laughs]

Bas Rutten: Yeah, and that's just the beginning. It's just the beginning. Look at him, everything about him is fake. He's got the blond highlights, he waxes his face so he doesn't have to shave, he walks around in his flashy things he thinks he's …in your interview, I was laughing. I mean the way he said it [with character voice] “I got my credential reel” or “I got my resume' reel.” Somebody who's good, they don't need to say that. I mean what is his claim to victory? What did he do in the world of TV? Name me one thing. He worked for the E! channel and apparently they let him go there also. But Google his name. Find out what he did. I wanna find out. I wanna see that resume'. Seriously, I wanna see what he actually did because I can still not believe it. And him saying they did not like Stephen Quadros, this is what happened. This is what I truly believe happened. The people, the represenative from PRIDE met him somewhere. Where? I don't have a clue. I think he came in with all his little talks and sweet little talks and he's like this little, yeah how do you say it. He's a sleezebag. He just makes up stories. Then he says, “I can do the commentating.” So they say “ahh maybe he can replace Stephen.” So what he does, he sits down in a studio and gets his friend a microphone who knows mixed-martial arts, and he puts on a headset and he tells his friend to tell him what to say.

MMANews.com: What?!

Bas Rutten: They record his voice. No, this is true! His friend told me – personally. This guy tells him in his ear, he [Millen] says what his friend says, they recorded it and sent that tape into PRIDE Fighting Championships. They [PRIDE] listen to it and they hire him! So he comes in and now that he's in he's looking around and starts to realize, because he hears Stephen and he hears me and he goes, “ok this is gonna be difficult. I just bullshitted my way in but now I gotta do this for real…oh god what am I gonna do.” So he starts talking again, and next thing you know he's suddenly the producer. So what happened is instead of getting the job from Stephen Quadros which he told me, he personally told me he said listen, “I came for the job of Stephen but then they gave me the job of producer, so I don't have to fire Stephen.” I said “ok.” So the producer got fired and he got that job. One month later, suddenly Stephen Quadros is gone and I'm thinking “what is going on, why is he gone?” and then his [Millen's] best-buddy shows up – Damon Perry. And I'm thinking ok, that's very …what's the word – coincidental. Stephen got fired and suddenly his best buddy is coming in? No, they don't like his best buddy. So they try another show and they didn't like him again and then I say, you know what? I know a guy – Mauro Ranallo. I worked with this guy on a movie a long time ago and this guy's a freak show. I mean you give him six pages of script and he memorizes it in two minutes. It's just insane. So they get him and this guy really does already at this time – 16 years of broadcasting. People can say whatever they want, but I truly believe this guy's phenomenal play-by-play guy. He comes in and I truly believe that Jerry Millen got jealous of the …how do you say, the gift that Mauro Ranallo has. Mauro starts using …Mauro uses big words. Just like Jim Lampley and all the other good commentators. Then everytime Millen says “no, no – you cannot use a big word because the mixed-martial arts world, those people are not educated and they won't understand what you're saying.”

MMANews.com: He actually said that?

Bas Rutten: He said it, I swear to god. You can ask the PRIDE represenatives they were there, right there. He says you could not use the big words but the problem was Jerry could not understand the big words.

MMANews.com: [laughs]


Bas Rutten sets the record straight on PRIDE V.P. Jerry “Gary” Millen

Bas Rutten: And I'm coming from Holland and even I can understand the big words because if you put them in a sentence together, it's very easy to put one-and-one together. It's just insane! You couldn't even say, “oh my god this guy has 12 fights with zero loses.” No, no-no. You gotta say 12 and “O.” I said why? “Because everybody does it.” So? So you want to do the same as everybody? “Yes.” I said by the way an “O” is a letter a “0” is a number. We are talking about numbers right?! And he says, “no, you can not do it. You have to say “O.”” I'm thinking if you really wanna put an emphasis on it, that he never lost, you say zero losses, it sounds way better than “O.” But no, you gotta be like everybody else. Later on I started knowing why he would be like everyone else – he's not very creative. All the other stuff he can not do, but he thought what he could do is look at other shows and just copy off of them. So everything you saw in PRIDE went the same as all the other organizations in the world, even including boxing. Then he starts cutting the show. Go back in time. I'm telling you – go back in time and from the moment he came in watch what happens to the show. Not everyone realizes but in the beginning when he first came in that's when all the negative comments came. He started cutting out fights. He started showing the ring girls but then cutting fights. He started showing the whole intro's of a guy walking to the ring and then cut the last round of his fight out. I mean it was ridiculous. People start complaining and complaining, you know? He got a lot of trash going and then he says he wants professionals in the booth? [loud exhale] C'mon. I never got this guy. I mean, who's the professional here? Surely he's not.

MMANews.com: Now…wow. You gave me a whole bunch of stuff I've never even heard before.

Bas Rutten: Well I just finished posting on Sherdog, read what was it, like three and a half pages – I came clean with everything that he did. No, not everything – this is the tip of the iceberg. [laughing] I got a whole bunch more! I'm just getting warmed up. If he starts one more time against me …and you gotta understand also, so that you know. The reason that I'm doing this is because he was lieing. He lied to you. He was lieing on that CBS website. He said he made me and Mauro get fired when we quit and then he said because he wanted professionals. So I wrote him an e-mail and the e-mail said, “hey Jerry, listen – you gonna take those words back. You're gonna tell the truth because if you don't tell the truth, you're gonna have a huge problem with me. This is not a problem that I'm gonna beat you up or something because I even look at the guy and he breaks in half. I don't need that. But what you are gonna have a problem with is I'm gonna tell the people who you really are. Because I know who you are.” For instance, I have the e-mail at him if you guys wanna see it. Like for instance how he got the job in PRIDE, which is the story I just told you. He writes me back and he tries to be the cool guy with me because I think he thinks he's hot stuff. And then he says, “remember this – I will never ever do what you say.” So I wrote him back and I said, “alright man, you asked for this yourself” and then bam – I go, you know? He called my bluff so I gotta react.

MMANews.com: Alright real quick about PRIDE themselves – not just Jerry Millen, what do you think are their main problems right now? Do you think it's him?

Bas Rutten: It is him. I mean everything went down. The people …I, he started messing with Mauro, right? All the time because he's jealous of Mauro. So I take him to the side and tell him, “listen Jerry – you back off. You leave him alone. This guy's doing a great job and you leave him alone.” So he backs off for a bit and then he starts again. So I go to the PRIDE people, the represenatives and I say, “listen, this guy – he's a fake. Let me tell you how he got into PRIDE.” I tell them the story about the tape-recorder and then I give them a shit-list of him for about two pages. They just listen to it sitting there with wide-open eyes and then they say, believe it or not, “yeah we gave him too much power but, you know, we believe in second chances.” I say, “excuse me?” they say “we believe in second chances and we're gonna give him a second chance.” Cool. He starts again and everything goes down the drain. I leave. I say: “you know what, I quit. I'm not gonna fly 11-12 times a year to Japan,” and then on top of that they didn't wanna give me a raise. So I went home. So what happened was I come home and I have to do seminars and travel all over the place. I got jet-lag all day long. I said “you know what, together with all this stress and Jerry – I've had it, man. If you guys don't respect me anymore then I'm out.” So I left and I was gone and I'm starting to hear a whole story and then on top of that, oh this is the funniest ever. [laughs] Now he has a job from the represenatives. So those guys got fired because of him, and those guys gave him the second chance. That's Jerry Millen for you.

MMANews.com: Now I actually asked him if he'd ever bring any of you three back, and he didn't …he just said never say never but to me it definitely sounded like a never.

Bas Rutten: Oh of course.

MMANews.com: But I was just curious as to whether or not you'd ever consider it.

Bas Rutten: Nah he wants to do that. Say all that “I wish you continued success” …all that crap that he says. It's nothing man. He had four people get fired – Stephen Quadros, Michael Braverman, [can't make out the other two, Japanese names] he's got to live with that. That's karma for you. That is bad karma for him, he ruined four people's lives. Well, no – he didn't ruin them because Stephen is way better off, Michael Braverman has got his own TV show now, [and the two Japanese people] I don't know anything about them but you know since they weren't that nice with me, I don't really care about them either. So, …because that was the whole problem with the money. So for me that's all okay, I'm just saying that, you know – karma. Man, karma's a bitch and it'll come back to you and that's what's gonna happen with him, big time. That's truly what I believe.

MMANews.com: Do you think PRIDE will be under new ownership by 2008?

Bas Rutten: I have no clue. I absolutely have no clue but it doesn't really look good.

MMANews.com: If you had to take a guess, do you think Dreamstage Entertainment will still own PRIDE after 2007?

Bas Rutten: I don't think they gonna make it. That's what I think because everything is going downhill now. I don't believe that they can even see through the bullshit stories that Jerry “Gary” Millen is feeding them. It's insane and it's so sad. Look what a great company it is. You got to go to Japan and meet the people from Japan. All the people in PRIDE, they're such great people you know and he's ruining it all! Because this way …if PRIDE is going down that means he took PRIDE down. That's not only PRIDE that is a lot of people man that will suddenly run out of a job. And that's gonna come back to him, that's karma. That's why I said “oh I'm gonna beat him up?” I don't need to beat him up he's gonna beat himself up. That's what's gonna happen.

MMANews.com: Alright we'll leave Jerry …or Gary Millen alone now. Moving on.

Make sure to check out MMANews.com tomorrow for part three of our exclusive fourty minute interview with MMA legend Bas Rutten.

For more information on Bas Rutten, visit BasRutten.tv. For more info Rutten's IFL team The Anacondas, visit their website here.

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