Tank Abbott had no heart

[achoo42]

Tank was a pioneer- he was one of the first that combined grappling and boxing. It was mostly one style with no cross training in those days.

Watch any modern war in the octagon and tell me your bullshit again.

Modern training and athleticism allows fighters to dig deeper and endure more than ever.

 

[Lee_]

Watch any modern war in the octagon and tell me your bullshit again.

Modern training and athleticism allows fighters to dig deeper and endure more than ever.

You can worship those pussies all you want.

 

[achoo42]

You weren't watching obviously. Tank's first UFC was the first UFC he competed in during the mid-nineties (were you even born yet?). Tank did have wrestling and striking. Not world class, but significant enough to make a difference with the balance. He would never have done as well without both.

You don't know what you're watching at all. Any kind of success he had was due to his monstrous strength. Anytime he fought a skilled opponent, he lost. Even if they were way smaller than him.

I mean how can you claim that he was the first to pioneer grappling/boxing skil when he lost to two guys who actually did have both boxing and grappling skill (Don Frye and Vitor Belfort)? For someone who claims to be an "old fan" you have massive gaps in your knowledge.

 

[achoo42]

You can worship those pussies all you want.

I don't think you're ever gonna convince anyone that a bum like Abbott who tapped to strikes and gave up from leg kicks had more heart than modern fighters like Jiri Prochazka or Max Holloway who fight bloody five round wars.

 

[Ibm]

XD

 

[Lee_]

You don't know what you're watching at all. Any kind of success he had was due to his monstrous strength. Anytime he fought a skilled opponent, he lost. Even if they were way smaller than him.

I mean how can you claim that he was the first to pioneer grappling/boxing skil when he lost to two guys who actually did have both boxing and grappling skill (Don Frye and Vitor Belfort)? For someone who claims to be an "old fan" you have massive gaps in your knowledge.

ROFL don't know what I am watching. You weren't born yet, you haven't even seen those events.

lol "say he was the first" I didn't say that.

 

[Lee_]

I don't think you're ever gonna convince anyone that a bum like Abbott who tapped to strikes and gave up from leg kicks had more heart than modern fighters like Jiri Prochazka or Max Holloway who fight bloody five round wars.

Abbot vs Taktarov or Severn. Off the barstool, into the octagon like a real man.

 

[DesiredUserName]

He was only kidding. Tank likes to joke.

 

[achoo42]

ROFL don't know what I am watching. You weren't born yet, you haven't even seen those events.

I watched all of the early UFC fights on VHS. Not that it matters because you can watch all of them on Youtube. Imagine thinking you can't watch a fight unless you were physically there.

Abbot vs Taktarov or Severn. Off the barstool, into the octagon like a real man.

Being a real man is having the discipline to train. Not waste what potential you're given by drinking your life away. Tank Abbott pretended to be a "real man" by knocking out bums, and gave up every time he fought someone who could fight.

lol "say he was the first" I didn't say that.

Then learn what the word "pioneer" means.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

He had heart, modern fighters also have heart. He's just saying shit that old people say. Don Frye seems to shit talk modern fighters all the time too.

 

[achoo42]

Don Frye seems to shit talk modern fighters all the time too.

Except Don Frye could actually back it up; he was willing to do shit that modern fighters aren't willing to do.

Frye also almost exclusively fought people who were much bigger than him, which is also something modern fighters don't do.

Tank Abbott was a bully, outweighed most people he fought, and tapped to strikes in 52 seconds against Vitor Belfort who was 55 pounds lighter than him.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Except Don Frye could actually back it up; he was willing to do shit that modern fighters aren't willing to do.

Frye also almost exclusively fought people who were much bigger than him, which is also something modern fighters don't do.

Tank Abbott was a bully, outweighed most people he fought, and tapped to strikes in 52 seconds against Vitor Belfort who was 55 pounds lighter than him.

Vitor at that point was absolutely running through everyone tbf.

 

[NoSmilez]

I will give him props. He tried to train a little and fought up to a later age. I thought he threw the Kimbo fight though.

 

[Laheys'Liquorland]

Tank is the face of UFC from back in the day.
Don't bash the dude, praise him for being a just bleed hero that entertained the fuck outta us.

 

[Lee_]

I watched all of the early UFC fights on VHS. Not that it matters because you can watch all of them on Youtube. Imagine thinking you can't watch a fight unless you were physically there.



Being a real man is having the discipline to train. Not waste what potential you're given by drinking your life away. Tank Abbott pretended to be a "real man" by knocking out bums, and gave up every time he fought someone who could fight.



Then learn what the word "pioneer" means.

He had heart, modern fighters also have heart. He's just saying shit that old people say. Don Frye seems to shit talk modern fighters all the time too.

That's kind of funny I have to admit.

 

[Dr Fong]

While 'no heart' is obviously taking it too far, he was a consistent quitter.

OP is right to point out how laughably dumb it is that he calls modern MMA fighters pussies, when your average journeyman these days is far less, relatively speaking, of a pussy than Tank was.

It wasn't just an issue of cardio like the apologists are making out. He simply had a lot of quit in him.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

While 'no heart' is obviously taking it too far, he was a consistent quitter.

OP is right to point out how laughably dumb it is that he calls modern MMA fighters pussies, when your average journeyman these days is far less, relatively speaking, of a pussy than Tank was.

It wasn't just an issue of cardio like the apologists are making out. He simply had a lot of quit in him.

Although ironically I would argue HW in recent years has actually become more like Tank's day again, more guys who depend on blitzing opponents and have no heart, cardio or rounded skill for a longer match.

 

[Bearknuckle]

Not only that, that was his THIRD FIGHT IN THE SAME NIGHT and that UFC was held in Wyoming at a very high altitude. Very few, if any, modern fighters would fight under those conditions--especially with the minimal ruleset in those days.

Tank was never the best-conditioned fighter but he was very strong. Most Sherdog riff raff like T.S. only saw him fight in the mid-2000s when he was well into his 40s and had taken a 5-year layoff to do pro wrestling.

the definition of having heart is to being beaten or way behind and still fighting back and win, or survive without giving up. Whenever tank wasn’t able to bully his much smaller or less skilled opponent, he fuckin quit.

He outweight oleg by 60 lbs and couldnt put him away. he was a way bigger than oleg, when he couldnt really hurt oleg or put him away early he resorted to fish hooking olegs mouth, and was laying and praying for a huge portion of the fight.

in the severn fight, he got smashed and turtled up. He literally got slapped by severn and cowered on the fence in a turtle/fetal position. Thats not heart thats called getting smashed and not fighting back.

like the other poster said, he never won a fight past 3 minutes. He beat cans, and every time he fought someone who gave him a fight, he got beat, quit or never fought back.

He was popular because of the demographic and persona that was connected to NHB at the time. They saw it as barbaric bar brawls, and he was the guy. But the reality was he was a bit of a gimmick.

 

[Dr Fong]

Although ironically I would argue HW in recent years has actually become more like Tank's day again, more guys who depend on blitzing opponents and have no heart, cardio or rounded skill for a longer match.

But even guys like Portly Porkchops have more heart than Tank had.

 

[Bearknuckle]

Although ironically I would argue HW in recent years has actually become more like Tank's day again, more guys who depend on blitzing opponents and have no heart, cardio or rounded skill for a longer match.

But those guys never win championships, guys like lewis, tuivasa are only highly ranked because heavyweight talent is thin. They almost never win against the skilled top heavyweights