Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Bas Rutten not only knows how to party, he also knows how to stop the cops from shutting it down.
Bas Rutten admits he likes to party and one party in Vancouver nearly got him banned from the country of Canada.
Rutten reflected on the epic party when speaking to Kajan Johnson and Shakiel Mahjouri on the Pull No Punches podcast. He travelled to Vancouver with “Mindhunter” actor Holt McCallany to shoot the 2000 television sci-fi series “Freedom.” Rutten was tasked with choreographing McCallany’s fight scenes.
“The shoot wraps and he [one of the show’s producers] has this penthouse. On the roof of the penthouse is a pool, there is a DJ there. We have this party and we invited 60 or 70 people. 600 people showed up. It was way out of control,” Rutten chuckled. “There were people on top of the roof. There were people naked in the pool. All around us there were these big skyscrapers. Everybody was looking while we were doing that. We were still blasting the music at 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock.”
“The police came to shut us down but we had a private elevator to the penthouse,” he continued. “‘Sir we need to come up right now,’ the police said. I reply, ‘No, I’m sorry we can’t do that.’ He goes, ‘why not?’ I said ‘because you’re going to stop the party and we don’t want to stop right now.’ They were livid of course but we didn’t let them up. We kept going until 2 or 3 a.m. The next day we get a phone call from the mayor and he left a message. Dude, it was not political let me tell you that. He was screaming at us. He was going to make sure if we ever pulled a stunt like that again he would make sure we would not only not be allowed in Vancouver, but ‘IN ENTIRE CANADA!’”
That was not the only story Rutten shared with the podcast. The UFC Hall of Famer also reflected on working with actor Kevin James, “rupturing” his eyeball in New Japan Pro Wrestling and more.
Timestamps are listed below for the video above.
0:47 - Relationship with actor Kevin James
5:45 - Athletic big guys in MMA and Pro-wrestling
7:05 - Bas Rutten tells pro-wrestling stories
10:20 - The art of palm strikes
12:55 - Why Bas Rutten won’t fight again
13:45 - Why fighters can’t stay retired
15:55 - Best martial art for self-defense
19:00 - Combat jiu-jitsu
21:53 - Why the Mayor of Vancouver threatened Bas Rutten
