Tank Abbott

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1 Profile
2 UFC Career (SEG Years)
3 UFC Career (ZUFFA Years)
4 Post UFC Career
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External Links

Profile

David "Tank" Abbott (born April 26, 1965) is an American professional mixed martial artist and UFC veteran.

He stands 6 ft. (183 cm) tall and fights in the heavyweight division.

He was a finalist in both the UFC 6 and Ultimate Ultimate 1996 tournaments and is currently a free agent.

UFC Career (SEG Years)

Tank Abbott made his professional mixed martial arts debut in UFC 6's one night 8 man tournmanet which was held on July 14, 1995.

In the opening round he faced John Matua, a 300+ lbs. brawler who Tank knocked cold in 20 seconds. Following the knockout Tank mocked the crumpled body of Matua.

In the semi finals he faced 6 ft. 8 in., 300 lbs. "trap fighter", Paul Varelans. Tank scored a takedown early in the fight and punished Varelans with knees to the face against the fence while mocking Varelans to the crowd. The fight was stopped at 1:55, moving Tank into the finals.

In the final he faced Sambo specialist, Oleg Taktarov. In an epic fight that went 17:45 without a break, Taktarov defeated Abbott with a rear naked choke. After the bout, Taktarov had to be taken to the hospital due to exhaustion. Although Tank had lost the tournament, the impact he made on fans meant he would be a fixture for many years and UFC events to come.

On December 16, 1995, Tank was a participant in Ultimate Ultimate 1995. The event was basically a "best of the best" tournament featuring fighters from previous UFCs. In the opening round, Tank faced and defeated UFC 3 tournament champion, Steve Jennum via neck crank submission to move into the semi finals.

In the semis he faced UFC 5 tournament champion, Dan Severn. Severn hit a takedown early and stalled the fight to a decision victory for himself. Tank later described the fight as a nightmare in which he was getting raped by (Queen lead singer) Freddie Mercury.

In another one night 8 man tournmanent at UFC 11, Tank again made it to the semi finals but was upset by 300+ lbs. brawler, Scott Ferrozo in a sloppy and terrible fight that featured primarily stalling against the cage with both fighters trading insults.

On December 7, 1996, Tank was included in Ultimate Ultimate 1996. Another "best of the best" tournament that featured the likes of Ken Shamrock and Don Frye. Tank opened his tournmanet by beating Cal Worsham into submission with strikes just 2:51 into the fight.

In the semi finals, Tank was meant to face Ken Shamrock in a fight that he had been wanting for a while. However, Shamrock had to pull out of the semi final match-up due to injury and was replaced by alternate, Steve Nelmark who Tank brutally KO'd just 1:03 into the fight.

Tank faced UFC 8 tournament winner, Don Frye in the final. In a tough fight, Tank dropped and rocked Frye a number of times on the feet before the fight hit the mat and Frye applied a rear naked choke with some assistance from the Octagon fence. Tank tapped and Frye was crowned the champion.

At UFC 13, Tank was matched up against "The Phenom" Vitor Belfort. Belfort had raced through UFC 12's heavyweight tournament with devastating hand speed and Tank was meant to be a good test of Belfort's stand up skills. Tank was no match for the youth and skill of Belfort and was TKO'd for the first time in his career.

Tank was given a heavyweight title shot at UFC 15 against champ, Maurice Smith on short notice. In a one sided bout, Tank was picked apart by the world champion kickboxer before submitting to strikes at 8:08.

At Ultimate Japan 1 and UFC 17 he got back on track with victories over Yoji Anjo and Hugo Duarte with a decision and TKO respectively.

On October 16, 1998, Tank was matched up against UFC debutant and touted Muay Thai striker, Pedro Rizzo at Ultimate Brazil. Tank was weakened by leg kicks for the 8 minutes of the fight before Rizzo finally followed a leg kick up with a right hand which knocked Tank out cold.

UFC Career (ZUFFA Years)

Following the loss to Rizzo, Abbott went on almost a five year break from mixed martial arts competition. He spent the majority of his break in professional wrestling for WCW. His persona never really got off the ground and was said to have jumped the shark after he lossed by pinfall to actor, David Arquette.

Although he had been in mixed martial arts limbo for almost five years, the UFC, now run by ZUFFA, decided to bring Tank back into the Octagon. The idea received mixed reactions with many believing that the disrespectful and unevolved Abbott was not wanted in the new world of mixed martial arts, while others believed that ZUFFA were trying to show how much the sport had evolved and therefore made it a valuable move.

In his comeback fight, he faced jiu jitsu specialist, Frank Mir at UFC 41. To little surprise, Tank was outclassed by Mir and was tapped out with a toe hold just 46 seconds into the fight.

At UFC 43, the UFC put Tank in against Kimo Leopoldo in a throwback fight to the early years of the organization. The result of the fight came down to the fact that Kimo had attempted to improve his game over the years while Tank had not. Kimo's superior ground game told the story as he tapped Tank with an arm triangle choke from mount in 1:59 of the first round. If Tank had won the bout, a match up between he and Ken Shamrock would most likely have been set up in the future.

After having faced two ground specialists in his two comeback fights, Tank was finally given an opponent who was willing to stand in the form of human punching bag, Wesley "Cabbage" Correira. In an entertaining fight, the two slugged it out with Cabbage showing the wider array of techniques. Cabbage was able to continously take advantage of Tank in the clinch and opened a nasty gash that forced the fight to be stopped to the crowds and Tank's disapproval. A minor in ring scuffle followed after Cabbage performed his signature victory dance, "The Cabbage Patch".

Post UFC Career

Tank left the UFC after the loss to Cabbage and decided to sit out the whole of 2004. In May of 2005 though, Tank was back in action when he faced Cabbage in a rematch. The result was much different this time as Tank planted his signature right hand on Cabbage's chin just over a minute into the first round, knocking Cabbage cold. The win was Tank's first since May of 1998.

Three months later, Tank was invited to the Japanese based, PRIDE Fighting Championships to take on Olympic Gold Medalist and Japanese superstar, Hidehiko Yoshida. Tank's winning streak finished at one as Yoshida managed to tie Tank up in knots with his Judo gi before securing a single wing choke, 7:40 into round 1.

Tank moved on from the bout to headline a Strikeforce show in October of 2006 against former UFC title challenger, Paul Buentello. Just 43 seconds into the bout, Tank was knocked out via a Buentello punch.

On short notice in April of 2007, Tank was asked if he wanted to fight in England, at Cage Rage 21 against Gary Turner. Abbott accepted and hopped on the next plane out there. Abbott rocked Turner early and scored a takedown before attempting a leg lock for the first time in his career. The move failed and Tank was gassed and was pounded out shortly thereafter.

Toward the end of 2007, Tank began to call out backyard fighting Youtube sensation turned mixed martial arts fighter, Kimbo Slice after the famous brawler had submitted Ray Mercer in an exhibition bout and made Bo Cantrell quit in his pro debut. The fight was set up for February 16th, 2008 as the main event for EliteXC: Street Certified. Tank came out like he always does and landed a decent shot before attempting a takedown. Kimbo shrugged off the shot and the fighters were seperated after Kimbo landed some shots to the back of the head. Shortly thereafter Slice landed a huge shot that left Tank faced down on the mat. The fight lasted 43 seconds.

In an effort to finally put together a match between Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott, Ken Shamrock Productions and Wargods put on an event that featured both fighters in seperate bouts with a bout between them to take place in the future. Shamrock faced 380 lbs. Ross Clifton while Tank faced PRIDE veteran, Mike Bourke. In a 29 second bout, Tank rushed forward and landed an overhand right to the back of the head that dropped Bourke before landing a follow up shot to the back of the head. The fight was crawled in Tank's favour and broke his four fight losing streak.

Tank Abbott is expected to face Ken Shamrock some time in the future, possibly April.