51 Facts About Tank Abbott

David Lee "Tank" Abbott was born on April 26,1965 and is an American retired mixed martial arts fighter, professional wrestler, and author.

Tank Abbott's fighting style, which he developed brawling in the bars and streets of Huntington Beach, California, was described by his future manager Dave Thomas as "Pit Fighting".

Tank Abbott began practicing amateur wrestling when he was nine years old, and continued through high school where he played football.

Tank Abbott then continued wrestling in college, where he was a NJCAA All-American.

Tank Abbott then attended California State University, Long Beach where he graduated with a degree in History.

However, Tank Abbott was mainly known for the many street fights that he had engaged in, rarely losing.

Tank Abbott beat the customer severely, and the customer, who turned out to be the son of a detective, pressed charges for assault.

Tank Abbott started his career in mixed martial arts when he applied to the UFC for its event UFC 6 in Casper, Wyoming.

Tank Abbott was introduced to the UFC management by his future manager Dave Thomas, who credited him as a veteran street fighter who lifted 600lbs in bench press and had knocked out four men in his last brawl.

Tank Abbott made his debut at UFC 6 in July 1995 as scheduled.

Tank Abbott further solidified his reputation by mocking Matua's convulsions after the KO while the ring doctors rushed the cage.

At the finals of the tournament, Tank Abbott faced the Russian Oleg Taktarov in a fight that the announcers touted as a "skill vs power" bout.

Just as described, the match saw Tank Abbott blocking Taktarov's artful grappling attempts and damaging him in turn with hard punches and uppercuts.

Tank Abbott returned the same year as part of the Ultimate Ultimate event, which saw runners-up and champions from the previous UFC tournaments gathered together.

Tank Abbott first fought UFC 3 winner and ninjutsu practitioner Steve Jennum, whom he outweighed by 80lbs.

Tank Abbott initiated the action strong, but he was overpowered and eventually kept on all fours while Severn rained elbows and knees on him.

Tank Abbott's next fight met an even more brutal ending, as his opponent, Steve Nelmark, fell against the fence upon being knocked out and got his neck folded in a dangerous position.

However, by capitalizing on a punch in which Tank Abbott overestimated and slipped down, Frye managed to capture his back and lock a rear naked choke, winning the fight.

Tank Abbott claimed he made a mistake by letting Frye got his hooks in, as he would have been planning to use them to snap his ankles.

Ultimate Ultimate 1996 was the last UFC tournament in which Tank Abbott partook, as around the same time the UFC began switching away from the tournament format.

Tank Abbott's fortunes declined with the arrival of better trained mixed martial artists, who posed a much bigger challenge than the previously inconsistent opponents from the earlier UFC events.

Tank Abbott scored an early takedown, but moved back to trade hits with Belfort standing; this proved to be an error, as Vitor immediately overwhelmed him with punches and dropped him to all fours.

In October 1997, Tank Abbott was contacted to fight in the Japanese Pride 1 event against Kimo Leopoldo, but he was unable to do so, having to be replaced by Dan Severn.

The action was restarted standing, but by this point Tank Abbott was exhausted and offered little resistance to Smith's low kicks, prompting the referee to stop the match.

Tank Abbott bounced back from his losses with his performance at the first UFC show on Japanese soil, UFC Japan, where he was pitted against shoot-style wrestler Yoji Anjo.

The event featured a tournament format, but Tank Abbott forfeited due to a broken hand acquired while punching Anjo.

However, Tank Abbott blocked them successfully and captured Duarte's back, landing heavy punches from there, completely knocking the Brazilian out.

Tank Abbott praised Rizzo after the match, although he claimed to believe the cage canvas had been greased to hinder the footing of wrestlers like him.

Tank Abbott's return fight was on February 23,2003, at UFC 41, against Frank Mir.

Tank Abbott lost his return bout via toe hold submission less than a minute into round one.

Tank Abbott's next fight would be against fellow UFC veteran, Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 43.

Tank Abbott was taken down seconds into the fight, and was submitted via arm-triangle choke.

Tank Abbott later had a rematch with Correira, at Rumble on the Rock 7.

Tank Abbott secured his first victory since his return, knocking Correira out with a hard right hand in the first round, becoming the first person to knock Correira out.

Tank Abbott's next fight was on August 28,2005, against highly decorated judoka Hidehiko Yoshida at Pride Final Conflict 2005.

Tank Abbott lost via single wing choke submission in the first round.

Tank Abbott then fought Gary Turner at the main event of Cage Rage 21 on April 21,2007.

Tank Abbott lost via TKO after a barrage of punches from Turner early in the first round.

Tank Abbott was knocked down early, but the fight was restarted after Kimbo landed shots to the back of Tank Abbott's head.

Tank Abbott's next fight was against former PRIDE veteran Mike Bourke on February 13,2009, at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California, as part of the Valentine's Eve Massacre Event.

Tank Abbott knocked out Bourke with a punch that inadvertently landed to the back of Bourke's head, securing a victory for the first time in nearly four years.

In 2011 Tank Abbott participated in an unsanctioned "backyard brawl" against Scott Ferrozzo, whom he previously fought at UFC 11.

Tank Abbott knocked down Ferrozzo early with a punch, before taking his back and holding dominant position for over 15 minutes, occasionally landing punches.

At King of the Cage: Fighting Legends, on April 13,2013, Tank Abbott was defeated by longtime veteran Ruben "Warpath" Villareal by way of a 2nd-round TKO.

Tank Abbott was expected to face fellow MMA veteran Dan Severn for the upstart UR Fight promotion on March 20,2016.

Tank Abbott instead faced Jerry Flynn, a legitimate black belt in taekwondo and defeated him on the pay-per-view.

Tank Abbott was then featured in segments with the boy band parody stable, 3 Count as their "biggest fan".

Tank Abbott began feuding with the stable after they would not let him join the band; the feud ended when Abbott was released from WCW.

Tank Abbott returned to the ring one last time on August 15,2008, for Inoki Genome Federation in Tokyo, Japan losing to UFC fighter Josh Barnett.

In 1997, Tank Abbott appeared as himself in the TV show Friends, defeating Jon Favreau's character, the billionaire Pete Becker, who was dating Monica at the time.

In December 2018, Tank Abbott revealed that due to his lifestyle his liver had to be replaced.