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By Wade Keller, MMATorch supevising editor BBL Editorial by Wade Keller
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
Original Headline: Abbott establishes that strikers are not necessarily inferior to grapplers in UFC
Originally Published: July 22, 2000
Torch Newsletter #344
It was mentioned several times on television and it's true. There tend to be dues that must be paid before one is able to be victorious at a UFC event. Ken Shamrock eventually became the first SuperFight Champion but failed to win a big fight in either of his first three visits to UFC. Dan Severn lost in his first tournament and won his second. Oleg Taktarov lost in his first tournament and won his second. In the case of Royce Gracie, well, someone had to be first.
The latest to be paying his dues is David "Tank" Abbott. As a first-timer, he did what other first-timers have done - advance in the tournament. But he failed to win it all. He followed the pattern.
Last year Abbott was watching a UFC tournament on television. He enjoyed the tournament and talked it up to friends and family. When he showed a tape of the event to his father, his father told him he should enter. Abbott assumed it was a closed competition with a biased selection process. After his father pushed him, though, he decided to enter. He contacted the former W.O.W. Promotions and applied to be in the tournament. It wasn't until W.O.W. Promotions and Art Davie were bought out and eliminated from the selection process that UFC accepted him. Today Abbott suspects aloud that Davie was protecting Royce Gracie from someone like Abbott who might maul Gracie.
One thing Abbott is not is shy. For better or for worse, he is one cocky S.O.B. He and his entourage established their level of confidence in the days preceding the fight. Everyone at UFC began to hear first hand or second hand about the boisterous Tank. The night of the event he and his group got into verbal spats with other competitors, including Pat Smith. Racial comments were heard. Swearing followed. The battle even left the confines of UFC when the next day eyewitnesses saw Pat Smith step out of an elevator and get into a battle with Tank and his trainers that resulted in Smith spending the day in the hospital. Tank says Smith had it coming because Smith blind-sided one of his (Tank's) trainers. One eyewitness report says Tank initiated the knockout punch on Smith as Smith was walking away. In the end, Abbott's trainer used Smith's head as a punching bag. The fight was broken up and Dennis Coraluzzo called for an ambulance. Smith was stretchered out, but the next day chose not to press criminal charges.
Tank said for fun he likes to start and win bar fights. He says he is part of the Orange Country underground fighting scene. He has now thrust himself upon UFC fans everywhere as perhaps the most intriguing figure outside of Royce Gracie to ever enter a UFC tournament.
He broke the pattern of strikers being dominated by grapplers. The Gracie, Taktarov, and Severn types had previously dominated the tournaments. Strikers found that they could throw a few punches, but inevitably opened themselves up to an armbar or chokehold and had to quickly give up. Tank amazingly escaped three chokeholds applied by Taktarov, who has a list of fighting credentials perhaps better than anyone in UFC. Tank says that he would have been able to defeat Taktarov had he faced him in the first match. Everyone downplayed the altitude in Casper as being an issue, but many thought Taktarov essentially having a bye through the second round was a tremendous advantage.
Tank says when he was choked, rather than panic, he held his breath for 20 seconds knowing he had 30 seconds before passing out. During that time he listened to his opponent's breathing, knowing that as he relaxed (if that's the right term) in the chokehold, Taktarov was expending energy. Since Taktarov was breathing so heavily, rather than submit, Tank made a strong attempt to escape. Two times it worked. The final choke hold was too strong too soon after the previous choke and Tank knew he was finished.
But if he is invited back and faces Shamrock in the SuperFight, which is likely if they can't reach agreement with Royce Gracie, it would be the most anticipated UFC match to date.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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