David (Tank) Abbott at age 30

Glove

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Tank Abbott came onto the MMA scene at UFC 6 in Caspar,Wyoming in 1995 like a monstrous whirlwind of unmitigated violence not seen in previous UFC's. Here in this video, albeit short, he makes his UFC debut against a very large individual in John Matua. The weigh in's for this match had Matua at a 120 pound advantage Matua weighting in at 400 and Abbott at 280. Tank would go on and advance in the UFC 6 tournament to the finals and lose to Oleg Taktarov where both men had to be assisted out of the octagon from exhaustion. Tank would go on and have many more memorable highlight reel knockouts but would lose many more as the years went on. Tank Abbott was a fan favorite however and was always met with raucous applause. Tank Abbot was a very good wrestler but his matches never lasted long, he holds the MMA record for fighting in 24 straight fights where the ending came in the first round. At the end of his career Tank Abbott would have a losing record of 10-15, however he has remains in MMA history as one of the most feared punchers to ever compete. Note, UFC 6 served as Michael Buffer's first announcing gig in the UFC. It was also the first UFC super-fight champion in Ken Shamrock. UFC 6 had no judges, no rounds but there was a 20 minutes quarterfinal limit, the finals had a 30 minute time limit.

 
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One of the craziest things I remember about Tank was in a UFC promo where they showed him benching 600lbs.
 


Bad form but no denying the guy was strong as fuck.
 
Yes, we need more Tank around here.

The original Sherbro.

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War Tank. He got screwed badly at UFC 6.. because Oleg Takatarov vs Anthony Macias was a fixed fight, it was a 100% work.. Oleg got a free pass to the final and Tank did not. So unfair.

I love all the legend fighters you are doing recently Glove, keep it up. Yeah that 600 Ibs bench press is insane, I had read on the UG in the past that people were there at another time when he did 620 Ibs max bench press and many people were in the room to witness it. Tank was crazy strong!!
 
The UFC was so bad then.
Prime Tank vs Prime Roy Nelson.... Nelson would have killed him via not gassing after 30s.
 
@Glove informing and educating the newbs.

Keep doing God's work, brother.
 
The UFC was so bad then.
Prime Tank vs Prime Roy Nelson.... Nelson would have killed him via not gassing after 30s.

Tank was one of the heavies hitters in mma history. He could ko Nelson if he connected clean.
 
War Tank. He got screwed badly at UFC 6.. because Oleg Takatarov vs Anthony Macias was a fixed fight, it was a 100% work.. Oleg got a free pass to the final and Tank did not. So unfair.

I love all the legend fighters you are doing recently Glove, keep it up. Yeah that 600 Ibs bench press is insane, I had read on the UG in the past that people were there at another time when he did 620 Ibs max bench press and many people were in the room to witness it. Tank was crazy strong!!
A fucking beast.

The last person you would want to be in a cage with if you didn't know what you were doing...

The dude wasn't taking prisoners.
 
Tank was one of the heavies hitters in mma history. He could ko Nelson if he connected clean.

Yeah you can tell by his record. 6 ko wins from 25 fights and 1 win in a fight that went over 3 minutes.
I hate watching UFCs from that era again now. At the time I thought it was great but now it's barely recognisable as the same sport and I guess with the rule changes it isn't.
 


Bad form but no denying the guy was strong as fuck.


Form wasn't terrible, but the bounce off the chest would crush most people, lol. Anyway, he was always a fan favorite. I saw him get tapped out fast by Frank Mir in Atlantic City after a long layoff. I still have the shirt that says, "The Return of Tank".
 

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