David Lee "Tank" Abbott (born April 26, 1965) is an American retired mixed martial arts fighter, professional wrestler, and author.
[8] Art Davie would later confirm the Gracie family used its input in the management to limit fighters with amateur wrestling backgrounds, like Abbott himself, from entering the first events.
After returning to the cage in midst of strong cheers, Abbott knocked out Varelans by ground and pound and knee strikes, all while mockingly smiling at his opponent laying beneath him.
With both men becoming increasingly tired due to their previous fights and the high altitude of the location, the action moved to Taktarov's guard, where Abbott avoided multiple submission attempts and punished him further.
[14] Although Abbott had failed at winning the tournament, referee John McCarthy considered him the next big star of the promotion after Royce Gracie.
After fifteen minutes of absorbing strikes, Abbott managed to free himself, but Severn kept dominance until the end of the fight, which gained him the judges's unanimous decision.
This tournament venture was cut short, however, by Scott Ferrozzo, a contender from Don Frye's entourage who was billed as a "pitfighter" like Abbott himself.
[8] The two fought evenly in the clinch for minutes, with Tank coming closer to a stoppage by opening a cut in Scott's face, but Ferrozzo eventually gained the advantage with knees to the body and a heavy uppercut.
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.
"[17] At the end of the event, Abbott met his final adversary in Don Frye himself, with the winner of the fight gaining a title shot against Dan Severn.
Despite Frye being a superior wrestler like Severn, Abbott caught him with a hard left jab and dominated the match onwards with wild strikes, appearing as if he could win by KO at any moment.
However, by capitalizing on a punch in which Abbott overestimated and slipped down, Frye managed to capture his back and lock a rear naked choke, winning the fight.
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.
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.
"[17] Trying hard to press the action, Tank shockingly dropped the kickboxing champion with an early shot, but Smith controlled him through his defensive guard and a Kimura attempt.
The action was restarted standing, but by this point Abbott was exhausted and offered little resistance to Smith's low kicks, prompting the referee to stop the match.
The American dominated the match with takedowns and right hands, avoiding submission attempts with short bursts of ground and pound every time they hit the mat, which eventually gained him the unanimous decision win.
[23] Back in the United States, at UFC 17, he followed with an impressive victory over renowned luta livre fighter Hugo Duarte, who was famous for his vale tudo fights against Rickson Gracie.
Duarte had previously criticized Tank and his fighting skills, and he came close to proving himself right by almost locking a rear naked choke and an armbar in the first few seconds.
After a back-and-forth brawl, Abbott lost the fight via TKO after the ringside doctor determined he was unable to continue after suffering a cut over his right eye.
[35] His 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.
[38] Bouncing back with a win following his loss to Slice, At King of the Cage: Fighting Legends, on April 13, 2013,[39] Abbott fought for the Superfight Champion ship.
The scenario would not take place, and Russo was consequently released from WCW while other bookers composed the Souled Out card, choosing Chris Benoit to win the belt.
[43] After being released from WCW, Abbott made an appearance for NWA Wildside on December 14, 2000, teaming with Kevin Northcutt losing to Bob Sapp and Stone Mountain in Cornelia, Georgia.
[citation needed] 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.