Talkin’ MMA with Tank Abbott
Published by on September 16th, 2008 in Interviews

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By Scoop Malinowski

The one & only Tank Abbott may be semi-retired but he says he’s starting to get the itch again to do battle. Perhaps with Taktarov? Rutten? Proceed to read. Also in this interview, Tank talks about his forthcoming book, Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo, the UFC vs. Affliction and much more:

MMAMemories.com: What’s your next move in your MMA career?

Tank Abbott: “I have no idea to be honest with you. I’m kind of semi-retired. But I’m getting the itch again to get in shape. And go out and do something.”

MMAMemories.com: Who do you see winning in the Kimbo vs Ken Shamrock fight?

Tank Abbott: “Well I didn’t see his fight in London but everybody told me that he didn’t fare too well. I feel if he fights like that then he’s gonna be in some trouble. Kimbo was a lil bit tougher than I thought he was gonna be. But after they stopped it, when he hit me on the back of my head, I have no idea what was going on. I was, if they say if I had smart people in my corner, they would have stopped it. It falls back on me because I’m the one who picks my corner, it’s just calling myself stupid [chuckles]. Yeah, I mean, I was truly, I was like on queer street, like I was standing there, like you just go on auto pilot, Yeah, I’m fine, let’s go. In the back of my head I was struggling with (inaudible), what the fuck happened? Why is there trash in the cage? Why are people booing? And they did they stop it? And why is this guy asking me if I’m okay? And then after that – I saw the fight afterwards – I went and touched his glove like we were sparring. I was on queer street. I don’t even know what was going on. But I don’t know. I don’t know what Ken plans on doing with him. I’d imagine he wants to take him down. But I don’t know what Kimbo’s skills are.”

MMAMemories.com: One of the great aspects of your fight with Kimbo was that the crowd was really into it. They loved seeing two colorful characters go at it. Why do you think there are a lack of fighters with raw colorful personalities?

Tank Abbott: “Oh boy. I don’t even know where to go with that. [Chuckles] It’s probably because they don’t have one [laughter].”

MMAMemories.com: You have faced a lot of heavy-hitters in your fighting career. Is there a certain type of opponent that you enjoy facing or do you even care who you fight these days as long as you get paid?

Tank Abbott: “You know, it’s funny. As far as fighting anybody in the cage – only one guy that I really wanted (inaudible) – that was accomplished with Cabbage. But that was after the fact. After the cut he was acting like he was Superman when I was really just a joke. And I wanted to – that put some fire under my feet. Before that I really didn’t care. It was like, They’re just heavy bags to me. I don’t, no one really, emotionally, do I get charged up about.”

MMAMemories.com: Oleg Taktarov recently fought for the first time in years and won his fight. Would there be any interest in you fighting your old nemesis?

Tank Abbott: “Yeah, I’d love to fight Oleg. It would be a fun fight. That was my first fight, first show, when I fought him the first time. And it’s all a bit different nowadays.”

MMAMemories.com: Do you think Affliction can give UFC a run for its money?

Tank Abbott: “Yeah, it’s kind of interesting. The very first show they put on was a good show. But you can tell the UFC’s just been doing it a lot and they have all the production down pretty solid. And Affliction – at least they’re getting the right guys to fight. The right things, you know?”

MMAMemories.com: You were cornerman for Vanilla Ice when he faced Todd Bridges in Celebrity Boxing on FOX. How did this come about?

Tank Abbott: “Me and Vanilla Ice had a mutual friend. And put us together. And he wanted me to be in his corner. Nothing was going on so I went and did it for him.”

MMAMemories.com: But he didn’t fare to well did he?

Tank Abbott: “I think he was in a lil bit of shock. I don’t think he knew what he was getting into. Before the fight I was trying, Come on, man. Let’s get yourself right. And he was kinda like, Ha ha, jokin’ around a lot. I had to slap him in the face a few times, like, You gotta be ready to go to war, you know? Let’s go. And he was kinda like, Ha ha, just goofin’ off. Like he was gonna go out and do a concert or something. And I think that’s probably what everybody saw. His lack of seriousness.”

MMAMemories.com: Did he go the distance?

Tank Abbott: “Yeah, he went the distance. He just ran the whole time though.”

MMAMemories.com: Would you be willing to fight Bas Rutten if he was willing to come out of retirement?

Tank Abbott: “I’d love to fight Bas Rutten. I never thought that he was…well, he’s tough, but just like anybody that fights is tough. But I just don’t, you know, the guy in my opinion’s only had three MMA fights. I mean, I’m sure he did Pancrase which is just open hand slap fighting, but, you know, it’s all different when you’re doing MMA.”

MMAMemories.com: Talk about your book which you are currently working on and nearly finished with. You said earlier, according to the select few people who have read the manuscript it’s an original style of work and a very unique biography. Do you have a working title?

Tank Abbott: “Yeah it’s definitely different. I’ve never read any other biographies or anything but the way I write it it’s definitely unique. I have about five titles in my head. I’ve got 30 pages left to edit. And then after that I’m gonna give it to somebody and let ‘em edit it. Just so they can read it.”

MMAMemories.com: How do you think the MMA world will react to your biography?

Tank Abbott: “I don’t care. I really don’t care. I’m not motivated by any of that. My motivation doing this is have fun doing it. And telling a true, accurate story of what it is. It’s not to get me over or make money or anything like that. I couldn’t even do something with a ghost writer – it seemed to me to be a phony and a sham. It’s 100% me. It’s not a story selling something to make money. It’s all 100% true. I tell you now, there’s nobody in this business that lived the life I’ve written down. I’m telling ya. You’ll see when it’s done. I have a feeling people will say it’s all bullshit.”

MMAMemories.com: So basically it’s Tank Abbott, telling it like it is.

Tank Abbott: “Absolutely. It’s only got one UFC part to it. The rest is kinda before the UFC, kinda how I ended up in the UFC.”

MMAMemories.com: Talk about the creative writing process.

Tank Abbott: “I wrote it in a spiral notepad and then typed it on a basic computer, like a word processor. I’m a terrible typer. One finger typer. There’s no periods, no paragraphs, no chapters.”

MMAMemories.com: Sounds interesting. Like free-styling.

Tank Abbott: “It’s different but it definitely tells a crazy story. But it’s all true. All of it.”