Within the early days of the Final Preventing Championship, when the game was in its infancy, one of many first fan favorites to emerge was heavyweight brawler David “Tank” Abbott.
Abbott made his promotional debut at UFC 6 in July 1995, in a featured open weight, eight-man event. The event had no weight lessons, or weight limits. The matches had no rounds. No judges have been used. There was a 30-minute time restrict within the finals and, if needed, a five-minute additional time.
Abbott annihilated John Matua in simply 20 seconds to advance to the semifinals. He completed “The Polar Bear” Paul Varelans in below two minutes and punched his approach to the finals. Advancing on the opposite aspect of the basket and going through Abbott within the finals was “The Russian Bear” Oleg Taktarov. The battle lasted almost 18 minutes with Taktarov submitting Abbott for the event title. Abbott blames the loss on referee John McCarthy.
“I might have received that battle if ‘Massive’ John McCarthy would not have caught his melon in-between us and break us up,” Abbott stated on the Joe Rogan Podcast. “He broke this battle up. There have been no guidelines. Why did he do this?”
Abbott had prime place after keeping off a guillotine choke try early within the battle. “Why did he break us up,” Abbott continued. “He is corrupt and he is a criminal.” Abbott went on to accuse McCarthy of disliking him and making an attempt to get him kicked out of the battle promotion. McCarthy responded to Abbott’s feedback on the Weighing In podcast.
“In terms of Tank, alcohol had quite a bit to do with swaying what he even remembers,” stated McCarthy. “He all the time believed that I hated him. I’ve by no means hated Tank. That was not the case. There have been instances have been I bought pissed off at Tank.”
“He was drunk on a regular basis,” McCarthy continued. “He advised Joe that I stood him up and I am the explanation he misplaced battle battle (towards Taktarov). That is the entire thing, the principles. Tank is accountable for sure guidelines. UFC 6, he is the explanation I stated you possibly can’t fishhook as a result of he is sticking his fingers in Oleg Takarov’s mouth making an attempt to tug his lips aside. So I used to be like, you possibly can’t do this. The one factor you are able to do to defend it’s chunk. You may’t chunk. You may’t do the fishhook. So he was accountable for that. That was his first present. I needed to provide you with the principles. You may’t do this. It would not look good.
“The present earlier than, that [Royce] Gracie versus [Ken] Shamrock, when you return and watch it, it was 36 minutes complete. 31 minutes earlier than we stopped it the primary time and gave them a minute relaxation and a five-minute additional time. The primary 31 minutes was on the bottom. On the time, I used to be not allowed to face folks up, and I preferred it that method. I did not must make any choices. It was actual easy. However due to that battle at UFC 6 they needed me to face folks up. And I used to be making an attempt to not stand folks up. They have been like, ‘No. No. You have to stand folks up. In the event that they’re simply laying there, they’e bought to get into motion.'”
“I stood them up one time in an 18-minute battle… as a result of he was blowing snot bubbles on the chest of Oleg Takarov,” McCarthy defined.
