Bas Rutten Criticizes “Dangerous” Self Defense Instructor Dale Brown

MMA legend Bas Rutten isn’t a fan of the internet sensation Commander Dale Brown or his self-defense techniques.

Brown has risen to prominence over the past year for his viral self-defense videos, in which he showcases his methods on how to get out of various life-or-death situations. He was also in UFC middleweight Joaquin Buckley’s corner for his win over Abdul Razak Alhassan last month.

Rutten is regarded as one of the pioneers of MMA and earned wins in the UFC over Kevin Randleman and Tsuyoshi Kosaka. He remains a prominent part of the sport and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2015.

But Rutten believes that Brown may be doing more harm than good with his self-defense videos and that he could be conveying a false message to his viewers.

During a recent interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Rutten explained his issues with Brown and his teaching methods.

“You see, guys like that get people killed because they give you a false sense of security,” Rutten explained. “That’s why I don’t do self-defense in my classes, because imagine I teach someone about a gun or knife defense.. knives are really dangerous to defend, almost worse than a gun. A gun if you’re close by, you grab the barrel, and then you know what to do and how to go with it and all that stuff, it’s actually easier to defend than a knife or on both sides with a switchblade. You can get stabbed, it can come from above, it can come from all angles. So imagine I just teached a gun or a knife defense.

“A friend of a person I taught it to is getting in trouble, somebody pulls a knife, and he goes ‘Hey, step back, I got it, they just taught me this in class’ and he gets stabbed to death. You see? And that’s the problem, and it’s the same with the gun defense. When a guy is sitting behind [you] and carrying a gun, it’s the dumbest. There’s no space behind you, you can never go for the gun, and the only thing they have to do is pull it out, and they’re going to shoot you in your head.”

Rutten went on to explain that while self-defense is an important skill to learn, it has to come from the right person teaching it.

“It’s good to do, but you have to do it four days a week and have a good teacher… People are people, they just believe whatever coaching they get and it’s very unfortunate, it’s very dangerous.”

Rutten isn’t the only MMA personality to question Brown and his methods. UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland blasted Brown more explicitly than Rutten on social media last month.

Brown was once considered to be a joke by many on social media, but some including Rutten believe his techniques may be giving some viewers a false idea of how to get themselves out of dangerous situations.

Do you agree with Bas Rutten?

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