Inside the Octagon

Does anyone really want to see Tank Abbott continue fighting?

February

I sure don’t. In the realm of one-dimensional fighters, Tank Abbott takes the cake as king.

There was once a time in mixed martial arts where a guy could throw flailing bombs and he had a decent chance of knocking his opponent out. This was an era in MMA where every aspect of the sport was still evolving and you could get away with a sloppy stand up offense and defense.

Those days are over, though, and a training regimen of bench pressing 600 pounds and throwing ridiculous flailing punches at heavy bags just doesn’t cut it anymore . Saturday night’s EliteXC main event exemplifies this fact perfectly.

Almost every punch Tank Abbott throws is a swing for the fence. His right hand stays up near his face and his left hand is stationary around his midsection. His jab originates from this position and pulls back to this position also.Theres no force behind the punch and doesn’t set up combo very well. It also leaves a hole in Tank’s defense. Any fighter with a moderately respectable stand up game can easily neutralize this awful technique , land a couple of cross/hook combos, and put tank to the ground. Kimbo executed this game plan perfectly and scored his second mixed martial arts win.

I’ll admit that I’ve never been a fan of Tank Abbott and I don’t remember any of his fights from years past. I knew Kimbo Slice couldn’t have been the first fighter to expose this outrageous flaw in his game, so I just checked out a few of his other knockout losses.

I got through Pedro Rizzo, Paul Buentello, and Vitor Belfort knockouts of Tank Abbott before I had seen enough. Tank Abbott’s stand up game is awful at best. You learn simple offensive and defensive techniques on day one of boxing/kick boxing training. It’s pretty clear the guy steps into a fight with the ambition of collecting a paycheck first and foremost, and secondly hopes that one of his sloppily thrown over hook rights lands somewhere near his opponents face.

I get it. If you want to build a fighter up , throw a name like Tank Abbott in there to build him some recognition. Hopefully Tank Abbott is falling off of that list of names. After watching his awful display of mixed martial arts on Saturday night, I am surprised athletic commissions continue to license him. His fight game is so dated that it’s painful to watch, even before the inevitable knockout punch comes.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm by Larry Vollmer.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: | |

6 Responses to “Does anyone really want to see Tank Abbott continue fighting?”

Dave Rabbit February 20th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Tank is a joke. He was clearly there to collect a paycheck. What did he even do in his fight with Kimbo? He threw a punch or 2 and then just waited for the fight to end. I think he flopped so the fight was stopped. What was the purse? $126,000? Why even fight when you know you will get that kind of money? He could have continued but for what? To get more embarrassed and hurt? Just flop and take the money. What a joke, I hope we dont see him fight again.

Dave Rabbit
Rabid Abbot February 20th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I disagree that Tank did not look good in this fight. He knew that his best chance was to have Kimbo break his hands on his face, and he stuck with the plan. I can’t wait for the rematch!!!
WAR TANK!!!!
Larry Vollmer February 20th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
LOL – good one.
JC February 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I DO hope to see Tank FIGHT again. I just don’t want to see him stage a dive, even for $126k.

The author’s fight analyses is weak. He credits Tank with NO footwork, and totally misreads his jab style. Tank throws mainly hooks and straights. Not every punch is for the fences. Another thing the author misses is that Tank took an actual MMA striker’s stance, one that expects take down attempts and prepares to make them—which he did, half heartedly.

Don’t like Tank, fine. But don’t issue thin analyses of his fight technique based on what you saw in a WORK.
Larry Vollmer February 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
A strikers stance doesn’t mean jack when you leave your face wide open for a pummeling.

You really think Tank has a legit jab style? It leaves him WIDE OPEN for an onslaught of punches. Some style.

If you read the blog at all, you would notice that I watched a few of his TKO/KO losses and the fight style was the same against everyone.

The only legit take down attempt came right out of the gate and I agree it was half-hearted. The second take down attempt was a lame single leg that was more of a defensive position since he was receiving a beating on the feet.

Also, claiming the fight was a work is a bold statement. If you have any proof to back it up, I’d be interested in seeing it. Otherwise your comment is mere speculation.

The bottom line is that the only chance Tank Abbott has of beating legit competition is a puncher’s chance, and that even seems to be weening.
OLDB February 23rd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I think the answer to the question “What tank is going to show up tonight, The Sherman Tank or the Septic Tank?” has been answered.

I am a Tank Abbott “The Fighter” fan. In the 90’s his fights were always entertaining. Even though he didn’t have great skill and even worse conditioning, his strength and furiosity made up for it. It was a time when style vs style was the theme. You’d see greko roman wrestlers vs street fighters vs ju jitsu submission specialists and so on. Since then, the sport has evolved. Tank has not! And on top of that, he has aged considerably and looked like he was in the worse condition of his life.

Tank used to be a good benchmark for seperating the contenders from the pretenders. Now, I don’t think he could seperate himself from a bar stool.

I will say in defense of Tank. If all you did, was watch Tanks’ losses, then you don’t know Tank. You should go back and watch some of his victories. In victory Tank was ruthlessly vicious. Tank put it best when he described one of his coming fights as, “Did you ever watch the discovery channel and see a lion tear apart a zebra?”, eluding to that is what his next fight will be like.

So to answer the question, “Does anyone really want to see Tank Abbott continue fighting?” Tank is 0-4 in his last few fights, having not won a fight since May of 2005. (Unless you count the time in 06 when My buddy and I ran into Tank in the John of a bar who I will not name, and as Tank was on the toilet we found ourselves fighting for air, a fight my buddy and I clearly lost) I have no reason to believe, after seeing his fight against Kimbo Slice, that we will see any other Tank than the Septic Tank from this point forward.
So I will pass on future Tank fights thanks!

It is a condition of your use of the comment features associated with the blogs that you do not: Use the site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law. You alone are responsible for the material you post or send. Refer to the Terms of Service.