Why were for charges filed?
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it was the 90’s
Tank actually was a college wrestler too. He some decent takedowns in his fights.
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I booked him a few fights post-UFC. Interesting person.
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Which one, bro? Tank or Smith?
I’ve often wondered why charges weren’t filed against Tank & his crew too. Sucker punching a guy as his back is turned is some cold shit, man. Smith turned out to be a pedo POS so I’m not sorry that he took a beatdown but still…
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Smith was a helluva hammer but not much of a nail. That gnp Royce finished him with was probably some of the weakest i have ever seen someone tap to.
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I think he realized that Royce was going to beat the shit out of him and knew he had no way to stop.
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I don’t understand if this is a serious quote or sarcasm…
Pat Smith was one of my favorite early UFC fighters because his fights were always fast paced and exciting.
His best attribute was fearless aggression backed by a decent “full contact” background.
Tank lost to almost every top-tier fighter he ever faced – with his best wins over Duarte and the rematch with Cabbage.
Dangerous as he was, Tank was never a world beater.
That said, Pat Smith would never have been favored over Tank in that early UFC era.
Their resumes are not even comparable.
Hell… even in losing efforts – Tank completely exhausted Oleg Taktarov in a battle of attrition – and was busting up my old drinking buddy Don Frye a little, before he slipped and got choked.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Frye would have won, slip or not.
Point is, Tank was very dangerous, and actually had a pretty decent power wrestling game for the time.
The dude really knew how to throw his weight around, and was ready to pound your skull in giving the slightest opportunity.
Other than a guillotine vs an overmatched opponent – I don’t remember Pat Smith having any submission or grappling game to speak of.
Pat Smith was most exciting vs overmatched opponents, because he was explosive and generally fearless at the start.
But I would have picked Tank to beat him straight -up back in the day.
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well written and I agree
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I have to disagree with you on one thing on your post. Frye was well on his way to getting TKO’ed before the slip.
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We’ll never know.
Frye was a gamer.
He had the endurance and durability.
Tank Didn’t KO Taktarov.
He didn’t KO Ferozzo.
But your opinion is not without merit.
Again…will never know.
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i think Tank would have gassed and still lost .Slip is part of the game and Tank wasnt quick enough to recover or a good fighter when not in top position.But agree to disagree
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I don’t remember him slipping. I thought Frye just wore him out
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Just watched. You could say slip but Frye was pushing forward which lead to the “slip”. The pressure and tank being off balanced lead to it. It wasn’t like he just randomly feel over
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Frye admitted we was rocked bad. He actually said not wearing shoes for that fight helped him. He was sliding more and taking steam off Tanks punches.
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I like Kimo.
I’ve never been a Tank fan but I think it’s undeniable that he got two major raw deals in the UFC. First Oleg and Macias had a worked fight at UFC 6 so Oleg could be fresh for the finals and then Frye and Hall did the same thing at UU96. Both “fights” were a case of two guys having the same manager. Hell, Oleg and Macias were buddies.
I think there’s an alternate universe somewhere that Tank Abbott is a two time UFC champion.
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I’ve always heard it was Herrera as well. In a straight fight I think Smith would give Hereira big problems so I’m thinking Tank tee’d off on Smith and Herrera followed up and finished it…?
Interesting. Never heard that before. Makes me not feel so bad about Gary Goodridge brutalizing Paul like he did.
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