Absolutely.
too many people in the "hall of fame" already...coleman, severn, dont deserve being in... ken is a bit questionable
You'll never find me arguing that Tank had the best boxing, wrestling or anything else, but he did have some proficiency in both elements. Another thing that I really liked about Tank was that he was the ultimate bully in a way. He was the poster boy for what martial arts were supposed to be able to defeat. It turns out that skill in martial arts doesn't always beat a big tough bully.
BrazilianBomber - too many people in the "hall of fame" already...coleman, severn, dont deserve being in... ken is a bit questionable
Yeah you're right with MMA only being mainstream for the last 20 years having 5 guys in the hall of fame is WAY too many.
crowbar - Ken has only won Superfights (Severn & Kimo) & had Superfight draws with Gracie & Taktarov.Call them championships if you would like,I call them Superfights.I agree to an extent. However, he was fighting tournement winners in these superfights. And they nevr named a heavyweight champ til UFC 12. So he was the superfight "champion".
TheGoldenRule - I think it would be unwise to decide to place anyone into the HOF simply based on popularity. Record and accomplishments have to play a huge role, otherwise you open too many doors for idiots arguing that their favorite fighter "deserves" to be in simply because he was "At least AS popular" as the other guy that made it in based on popularity. The only exceptions should be announcers/refs/etc.
You make a good point. I guess my view of Tank is that he was kind of an innovator in a way. Much like the Zypher skate team changed skateboarding back in the 70's.
sorry I meant the ZEPHYR skate team, my bad.
Reasons for Ken Shamrock being in:
*He and Royce Gracie were the two biggest stars in the creation of the sport
*He was the first champion. Whether you want to pretend or not, the Superfight championship was called a championshiop in its time, and if it's not a championship, then today's heavyweight championship is not a championship since it's the direct descendent
*He and Royce Gracie was the biggest match in the early history of the sport
*He and Dan Severn was the second biggest match in the early history of the sport
*He and Tito Ortiz saved the company in 2002 when it was about to fold
*He and Tito Ortiz's two matches in 2006 along with Gracie vs. Hughes took it from a fringe sport to a sport that couldn't be ignored
Reasons for Tank being in:
*Maybe he would have won tournaments, except he never did. He lost to Don Frye in one minute and quit the minute the fight went to the ground in a fight he had no business losing
*He NEVER beat anyone worth a shit. Shouldn't you have one quality win in your life? He was prison raped by Dan Severn for 20 minutes straight without getting one offensive move in. He quit on Maurice Smith after two leg kicks. He pretended to be knocked out by Pedro Rizzo (watch the tape, he was fully conscious and decided to stay down). He lost to Kimo. Think about this. You want a guy in the Hall of Fame who lost to Kimo, has a sub .500 career record.
Even Bob Sapp has a better than .500 record. Hell, even Kimbo does, and Kimbo KO'd Tank in seconds.
If anyone, Tank should be in there, he was the original 800 lb street fighting gorilla that martial arts teach us to prepare ourselves for,with a nasty attitude,no respect, full of piss and vinegar and ready to pound anyone into next Tuesday and the power in either fist to do it. He was a terror and a measuring rod for a lot of fighters in the early days and he put a LOT of fans in the seats and sold a lot of ppv's. Tank was one of the few mma fighters the average man-on-the-street could name back in the day. His contribution to the sport is highly under-rated.
Tank definitely does not deserve to be in the HOF. It is ridiculous to even consider it. He never won anything and has a crappy record. His only wins came against low level competition.
Steve Jenum has more of a case to be in the HOF than Tank, at least he won UFC 3.
Neither actually deserves to be in there.
molsonman - Tank definitely does not deserve to be in the HOF. It is ridiculous to even consider it. He never won anything and has a crappy record. His only wins came against low level competition.
Steve Jenum has more of a case to be in the HOF than Tank, at least he won UFC 3.
Neither actually deserves to be in there.
How many people bought tickets and purchased PPV's to see Steve Jenum fight? I can assure you no one outside of old school hard core fans even know who Steve Jenum is. Everyone I know besides maybe my grandparents know who Tank Abbott is.
mr nemo - If anyone, Tank should be in there, he was the original 800 lb street fighting gorilla that martial arts teach us to prepare ourselves for,with a nasty attitude,no respect, full of piss and vinegar and ready to pound anyone into next Tuesday and the power in either fist to do it. He was a terror and a measuring rod for a lot of fighters in the early days and he put a LOT of fans in the seats and sold a lot of ppv's. Tank was one of the few mma fighters the average man-on-the-street could name back in the day. His contribution to the sport is highly under-rated.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Leaning yes on Tank. The "no" on Ken crowd are trolling. Early days + Tito fights? of course.
HST -molsonman - Tank definitely does not deserve to be in the HOF. It is ridiculous to even consider it. He never won anything and has a crappy record. His only wins came against low level competition.
Steve Jenum has more of a case to be in the HOF than Tank, at least he won UFC 3.
Neither actually deserves to be in there.
How many people bought tickets and purchased PPV's to see Steve Jenum fight? I can assure you no one outside of old school hard core fans even know who Steve Jenum is. Everyone I know besides maybe my grandparents know who Tank Abbott is.
So the HOF is a popularity contest? It isn't about actual accomplishments like every other sports HOF?
molsonman -HST -molsonman - Tank definitely does not deserve to be in the HOF. It is ridiculous to even consider it. He never won anything and has a crappy record. His only wins came against low level competition.
Steve Jenum has more of a case to be in the HOF than Tank, at least he won UFC 3.
Neither actually deserves to be in there.
How many people bought tickets and purchased PPV's to see Steve Jenum fight? I can assure you no one outside of old school hard core fans even know who Steve Jenum is. Everyone I know besides maybe my grandparents know who Tank Abbott is.
So the HOF is a popularity contest? It isn't about actual accomplishments like every other sports HOF?
No it isn't purely a popularity contest, but you have to look past simple win/loss records. This is especially relevant when looking at the original UFC fighters. These guys had to fight 2-3 times in one night to win a tournament. There were all kinds of things going on behind the scenes regarding match ups and tournament formats. The fighters at that time usually knew next to nothing about their opponents and to a certain extent were venturing into the unknown. People were still trying to figure out what really worked and what didn't. That is how I think tank influenced the sport, even Ken Shamrock tried wearing the split finger gloves after seeing Tank devestate opponents.
molsonman -HST -molsonman - Tank definitely does not deserve to be in the HOF. It is ridiculous to even consider it. He never won anything and has a crappy record. His only wins came against low level competition.
Steve Jenum has more of a case to be in the HOF than Tank, at least he won UFC 3.
Neither actually deserves to be in there.
How many people bought tickets and purchased PPV's to see Steve Jenum fight? I can assure you no one outside of old school hard core fans even know who Steve Jenum is. Everyone I know besides maybe my grandparents know who Tank Abbott is.
So the HOF is a popularity contest? It isn't about actual accomplishments like every other sports HOF?
It should be about the entirety of a fighter - from his accomplishments, to perhaps innovations he helped bring about, to popularity/significance during his era, etc. It's not just stats. Not even baseball's HOF is purely stats based.
No doubt. The orginal Bad Boy of MMA.
Hall of Fame should be for the elite.
Ken Shamrock was at least the elite in the early days. At the time, Severn and Johnston were quality wins, and he'd have beaten Royce & Oleg if there were judges, also quality wins at the time.
Tank is sub .500 with his highest quality win being....uh....I guess nobody. Steve Nelmark? Paul Varelans? They brought in Kimo to lose to him and he still tapped out in a minute, the same Kimo that Ken beat twice quickly.
No comparing Ken Shamrock and Tank.
Ken Shamrock has a proven track record as a draw. Exactly what record breaking events did Tank Abbott headline?
There was the....uh...uh....yeah,that's the one.
TheGoldenRule - ^^Really?
who's in the MLB HOF whose stats didn't put him there? Who's there based on popularity/significance alone? Even if other HOF's aren't purely stats based, stats still count. Therefore Tank has absolutely no business in any HOF talks, because he never won anything.
I guess reading comprehension isn't your forte. I never said that it was, or should be based on popularity/significance alone, but it would be remiss to not acknowledge these aspects either, especially in a sport/organization as young as the UFC. It has to be a combination of many factors, including stats.
Mark Martin - Hall of Fame should be for the elite.
Ken Shamrock was at least the elite in the early days. At the time, Severn and Johnston were quality wins, and he'd have beaten Royce & Oleg if there were judges, also quality wins at the time.
Tank is sub .500 with his highest quality win being....uh....I guess nobody. Steve Nelmark? Paul Varelans? They brought in Kimo to lose to him and he still tapped out in a minute, the same Kimo that Ken beat twice quickly.
No comparing Ken Shamrock and Tank.
Ken Shamrock has a proven track record as a draw. Exactly what record breaking events did Tank Abbott headline?
There was the....uh...uh....yeah,that's the one.
HOF should also be for fighters who change the way fans view the sport and Tank did that. Tank was also one of the first fighters to bring a personality to the cage. Like I have said already with the early UFC fighters you can't really base a HOF induction just on win/loss records alone.