David Lee "Tank" Abbott (born April 26, 1965) is an
American mixed martial arts fighter and former
professional wrestler. He has described his fighting style, which he developed brawling in the bars and streets of
Huntington Beach, California, as "
street fighting". Abbott was the first fighter to regularly wear what would be known as traditional MMA gloves in the UFC.
Mixed martial arts career
1995–1998
Abbott was a frequent participant in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Abbott made his mixed martial arts debut in 1995 at
UFC 6 Clash of the Titans in
Casper, Wyoming. In his opening fight, he
knocked out John Matua, who weighed 400 lb, in 18 seconds. Later that night he fought
Oleg Taktarov for over 17 minutes before succumbing to a
rear naked choke.In his first 4 UFC tournament appearances, Abbott advanced at least 1 round in all of them. Around the same time the UFC began switching away from the tournament format, his fortunes declined, as he won only 2 of 5 bouts in '97-'98 before retiring from MMA.
2003–present
Abbott waged an unsuccessful UFC comeback in the mid 2000's, losing fights to
Frank Mir,
Kimo......
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