Prime Tank Abbott was a 300lbs all-state wrestler, freakishly strong with massive punching power. He overwhelms the much smaller Kimbo right away and either takes him down and rips his head off with a neck crank or finishes him off with some powerful ground and pound.
Hard to say really, Tanks chin and heart are suspect imo. I could see Tank pulling it off but wouldnt be surprising in the least if it resembled their actual fight. Ill lean Tank because he has a chance to get Kimbo off his feet and probably keep him there. But I think if he trades with Kimbo too much without transitioning to a tackle/takedown I think Kimbo clips him again.
Nah. Prime Tank sends Kimbo to the morgue dude. Not even an argument. Sean Gannon beat the **** out of Kimbo and he's worse than the guys Abbott caused to convulse or fold up into accordions are the early UFC events. Not to mention he was fit enough back then comparatively and mauled guys against the cage and used his wrestling. Kimbo gets smoked.
Hmmmm..... idk, I want to ask why we would assume tank victims were better than gannon, the guys tank beat were scrubs, I really have no reason to believe Gannon wouldnt have beaten them as well. That being said, you are right that Gannon did beat kimbo pretty good (while getting his face rearranged in the process), Im not completely convinced that Tank could withstand the punishment that Gannon did to win there, but ultimately Tank is the more proven fighter and gannon did wobble kimbo a couple times, hard seeing Tank not do the same. I hear you though and what youre saying makes sense, Im just not convinced that Gannon is much worse than most Tank victims and I wouldnt be the least surprised if Gannon could beat Tank. I think early ufc fighters get pretty overrated. A lot of them were just guys like gannon or worse, who just had the chance to fight in the ufc. I dont see why a big tough sob like gannon wouldnt fit right in in the early ufc days. I know the consensus would be that Im highly overrating him though. Anyways, good post and youre probably right.
Forget the wins, you can examine some of Tank's early losses. Oleg Taktarov was a lot better than Gannon and Tank gave him a onesided beating. If there was modern round time limits he would've won that fight easy. Also Don Fyre fight where Tank was beating him from pillar to post until he tripped. Instead of posting on one knee and working back to the cage and getting up easily to finish Frye off he went to both knees and that was the end. They didn't know better back then. He had a battle with Ferrozo which is an underrated gem too. You also have to look at Kimbo's weaknesses and how they align with Tank's. Kimbo had awful stamina so him outlasting Tank isn't likely. He had no grappling skills whatsoever, Ray Mercer , James Thompson and that fat bouncer with dreadlocks in one of his streetfights took him down. So him winning by submission or taking Tank down is very unlikely. When Tank gets a hold of him, which he will, Kimbo will go flying. And when he's on his back he's as good as dead.
