In addition to his time in NJPW, Bas Rutten wrestled twice in BattlARTS and this was the better of the two (the other being an okay tag match with Amir(?) against Malenko and Alexander Otsuka). That being said, the match itself was decent. The matwork felt restrained and there were some awkward hesitations most likely due to Rutten adjusting to the worked "shoot-style" environment. Rutten keeps staggering Malenko with high kicks but can't really cinch anything in on the ground except for a kimura, whereas Malenko keeps sending Rutten to the ropes by focusing on the arm but obviously can't outstrike Rutten. In the end, Rutten's kicks win out, when he connects with a shot to Malenko's ribs, downing him for the TKO victory.
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