Tank Abbott Fans, get in here!

Doug Money said:
Yeah man a real life heel people could rally against. Bork was the closest thing to that in the modern era, but even he was more likable than Tank.
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Bork was a bloated WWE phony, Tank would slap Rogan for looking at him wrong.
 
pankrat said:
The Fact Tank gave prime versions of Rizzo, Frye and Oleg all they could handle is pretty telling about his fighting ability.

Watching those fights tells a very different story than just looking at the record or at how those fights ended
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I've seen all of those fights multiple times and I disagree with you on a couple counts.

First, he did not give Frye, Oleg, or Rizzo all they could handle. He landed a take down, shitty GnP, and a couple glancing shots against Rizzo. Rizzo flatlined him. Guys like Randy, Barnett, etc gave Pedro all he could handle; Tank got beat up and KO'd. Against Taktarov, Tank slopped his way through about 15 minutes of top time and clinch work before getting choked. In this particular instance, yeah, he gave Oleg a long fight, but Oleg was never in any real danger of being finished. Much like Rizzo, Taktarov couldn't wear a punch at all so the superficial facial damage was far worse than it would have been for someone with more durable skin but there was never any doubt who was gonna win this. Well, Oleg was on the Oxygen pretty hard as soon as this fight finished and he got the easiest route to the final via thrown fight, so sure we'll say Tank gave him all he could handle on this one. For the record, I don't consider Oleg to be all that good, but we'll move on. With Frye, he dropped him with a jab right out the gate and landed some pretty decent shots to bust ol' Donny wide open before... falling over from a shove and getting choked out within seconds of it hitting the mat. The entire fight lasted a minute and a half! Tank had his moments there but his one-dimensional style was exposed posthaste and he was sent packing quick. If you want to see what giving Frye all he could handle actually looks like watch his fights with Shammy and Goodridge.

In all these cases, the common element is that Tank lost decisively. He always lost when matched up with good fighters. Always. Hell, he even lost to mediocre fighters, especially on his return from pro 'rasslin. Wins are what really define a fighter's place in the MMA pantheon and Tank has a whopping ZERO wins against top opposition. If laying a whooping on Varelans, Jennum and grinding Yoji freakin' Anjo to a decision impresses you fair enough, but Tank was never anything more than a cartoon character to me.
 
TRYHARD 2001 said:
I've seen all of those fights multiple times and I disagree with you on a couple counts.

First, he did not give Frye, Oleg, or Rizzo all they could handle. He landed a take down, shitty GnP, and a couple glancing shots against Rizzo. Rizzo flatlined him. Guys like Randy, Barnett, etc gave Pedro all he could handle; Tank got beat up and KO'd. Against Taktarov, Tank slopped his way through about 15 minutes of top time and clinch work before getting choked. In this particular instance, yeah, he gave Oleg a long fight, but Oleg was never in any real danger of being finished. Much like Rizzo, Taktarov couldn't wear a punch at all so the superficial facial damage was far worse than it would have been for someone with more durable skin but there was never any doubt who was gonna win this. Well, Oleg was on the Oxygen pretty hard as soon as this fight finished and he got the easiest route to the final via thrown fight, so sure we'll say Tank gave him all he could handle on this one. For the record, I don't consider Oleg to be all that good, but we'll move on. With Frye, he dropped him with a jab right out the gate and landed some pretty decent shots to bust ol' Donny wide open before... falling over from a shove and getting choked out within seconds of it hitting the mat. The entire fight lasted a minute and a half! Tank had his moments there but his one-dimensional style was exposed posthaste and he was sent packing quick. If you want to see what giving Frye all he could handle actually looks like watch his fights with Shammy and Goodridge.

In all these cases, the common element is that Tank lost decisively. He always lost when matched up with good fighters. Always. Hell, he even lost to mediocre fighters, especially on his return from pro 'rasslin. Wins are what really define a fighter's place in the MMA pantheon and Tank has a whopping ZERO wins against top opposition. If laying a whooping on Varelans, Jennum and grinding Yoji freakin' Anjo to a decision impresses you fair enough, but Tank was never anything more than a cartoon character to me.
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It reeks of boomer in this thread. Tank is a shit person and his tough guy persona is bullshit the dude folded every time he got uncomfortable. Very mediocre fighter who would get leg kicked to tko by almost anyone in the roster. BB on a bad day kos prime tank with ease.
 
Sad Dad said:
It reeks of boomer in this thread. Tank is a shit person and his tough guy persona is bullshit the dude folded every time he got uncomfortable. Very mediocre fighter who would get leg kicked to tko by almost anyone in the roster. BB on a bad day kos prime tank with ease.
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It's alarming that there are people that exist (in this thread) that genuinely seem to believe that Tank Abbott would beat Derrick Lewis.
 
LilNicky95 said:
No matter how you look at it, Tank Abbott is an absolute LEGEND.

Tank had it all(except maybe elite cardio) back in the day:

Elite Power
Wrestling
Granite Chin
Aggressive Style
Submission Defense
Bada*s Persona

The man does not get enough credit as a legend but Tank Abbot was literally a killer.


Watching the Greg Hardys and Derrick Lewis’s these days lets you know that HW has not evolved at all and possibly devolved.



Tank is a man to be appreciated by all the NON-sissy fans that are all too uncommon these days.

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He was a legend.
People just don't know or appreciate, especially in the days of BJJ vs pitfighting and martial arts vs reality discussion which was huge in the beginning.
To see a brawler smashing people was important, especially when he beat down Lutre Livre Legend Hugo Duarte.
His significance was as great as any of the old timers, second only to Royce, Ken, Severn and maybe or two others.

BluntForceTrama said:
Not that there's anything wrong with it but is Tank gay?

Gaydar beeper has always gone off on Tank

he reminds me of the bears on 9th and Harrison
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Why? He may just be Uber male in touch with his softer fun side as well.
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My late Grandfather, who lived in Dagestan all his life save a few work stints in Donbass and getting his PhD in Moscow, was apparently a huge Tank fan lol.

I remember him telling me "nobody could beat Tank!" when reminiscing of the early days of MMA.
I don't even know how he watched those early UFC cards.
 
TRYHARD 2001 said:
I'm not a fan of Tank at all but I'm in here anyways.

For the record, he was strong, his wrestling sucked, his punching power was undeniable, his cardio varied wildly but was generally trash, he was slow, his chin was decent but unremarkable, and his submission grappling was weak. He threw punches like a grizzly throws his paws around. He beat no one of any consequence and his biggest claims to fame and legitimacy is giving Oleg a long fight and Don Frye a tough 45 seconds. He gave us some great-looking KO's against limited fighters but always came up well short when put in there with good fighters, never mind great.

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He was fun but in no way, shape, or form did he have it all. Not even close.
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ban
 
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