Issue 007

September 2005

David ‘Tank’ Abbott

Hailing from Huntington Beach, California, Tank Abbott is aptly named. He is known for his aggressive ‘go forward’ style of fighting. Tank has been accredited with some of the most violent and brutal knockouts the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has seen. He has no love for the martial arts and the respect that goes with it. Tank currently holds a record of 9-10-0.

John Matua

John Matua is a practitioner of the ancient Samoan/Hawaiian art Kapu Kuialua that is often referred to as the ancient art of ‘Samoan bone crushing’. This San Pedro, California native fell under the tutelage of ‘Kazja’ who is well-known throughout California for his knowledge and ability to teach this brutal system of fighting. John Matua is also a distant cousin of one of the great Sumo stars, Akebono. Matua’s record stands at 1-4-0.

No-holds-barred fighting or no bars can hold Tank?

Even before this fight started there was significant drama. Before his involvement with MMA competition David Abbott had a few brushes with the law and was serving a six-month sentence for assault and battery. While ‘doing time’ Tank was approached by a friend of his who asked him if he would be interested in fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), as he felt that he may be able to get him into the tournament that was taking the US by storm. After contacting the UFC Abbott’s friend arranged for him to be a spectator at UFC 5.

The UFC saw an opportunity to prove that street fighting was not an effective style of fighting for the octagon and signed Abbott for a fight against a potentially very dangerous opponent in the 6’2, 400lb John Matua. They even allocated Abbott the ring name of ‘Tank’ and registered his style as ‘pit fighting’ in order to make him seem a lot more brutal and untamed. The powers that be at the time felt confident that Tank would get beaten by Matua who was, after all, much bigger and a practitioner of an extremely brutal system of fighting. But ‘Tank’ had other ideas!

“Going to bars, getting Crazy and raising Hell” — D. Abbott’s CV

Tank walked down to the octagon to the applause of the 2,700 fans that had gathered at the Casper Events Center in Wyoming. He looked relaxed but there was something different about this man. Nothing that you could easily identify but it was something of an aura surrounding him, maybe it was just a look in his eyes but you could tell that something big was about to happen. Tank was also wearing gloves, which, at the time, were not regulatory. Jeff Blatnick, commentating, noted this and alluded to the fact that many fighters had broken their hands through striking an opponent’s head. 

Next to enter was the mountainous John Matua. He came to the octagon sporting his Kazja Kuia Lua shirt and trackie bottoms. His legendary trainer was just behind him and the entire camp seemed very confident that Tank was going to be a minor speed bump en route to the eight-man tournament victory. 

For a 400lb man, Matua seemed to be carrying very little body fat and Jim Browne commented that he was supposed to be very agile and athletic. Something that would supposedly help him against a beer-gutted bar brawler. 

As Michael Buffer announced the fighters Matua was glaring over at Tank who was pacing up and down like a caged bear. That look in his eyes became evident again. Between Matua bouncing on his toes and Tank’s pacing everyone, all 2700 people in the arena, knew there was going to be an explosion, but nobody was sure what the outcome would be. 

After the announcements had been made Big John, small in comparison to the two fighters that he had to try to control, asked the two modern-day gladiators if they were ready and then bellowed out: “LETS GET IT ON!” 

Tank the headhunter

The two men approached each other, Matua with his hands held high to cover his face and head which are so often the first targets that a street fighter will attack. Abbott approached the Samoan monster with his hands down and almost looked a bit nonchalant about the whole thing, as if it could have been Saturday night at any Huntington Beach nightclub or bar. 

Tank swung a huge right that glanced off Matua but made enough of an impact to make the 400lb’er stumble. Tank aimed another sniping right at the cranium of his opponent. This one missed its mark and Matua was able to close the distance and try to work the clinch. There was a feeling that this might be where Matua could take control and apply one of his viscous joint locks or chokes. Tank was not having any of it, though, and powered out of what seemed to be a loose imitation of a guillotine choke. With that he grabbed a handful of Matua’s shirt, which gave him a significant amount of additional leverage, and threw another shuddering right hand that caught Matua a little more flush than the other punches had. 

The bigger they are…

The Samoan was rocked and stumbled backwards. Tank saw the impact that he had made and the opportunity, he pulled on Matua’s shirt again as he delivered a second blow that made Matua’s backward stumble turn into a fall. As the big man fell he struck his head on the canvas, only to be smashed again by Abbott who was moving in for the kill. The final blow that Tank delivered before being dragged off by John McCarthy was so forceful that it caused Matua’s body to go into spasm and his arms and legs went straight up in the air and he started to shake. 

'There is no referee in a street fight, Johnny'

McCarthy immediately attended to Matua and supported his head and neck as the ringside physicians ran into the octagon. As Tank walked back to his corner he turned around and, in a display of total disrespect to his fallen opponent, he raised his hands and imitated the convulsions that Matua was going through. This was later referred to as the ‘Tank Dance’.

Although the fight lasted less than 20 seconds, the fans were sent into a frenzy after seeing the underrated and outsized Abbott beat his opponent in such an emphatic way. The self-proclaimed street fighter had shown that his style and ability to fight was very much an effective way of getting the job done in the octagon. Tank Abbott had just turned the world of MMA on its head and won himself a huge number of fans in the process.