Tank Abbott

David Lee Abbott, known as Tank Abbott, was born on 26 April 1965 and is an American retired mixed martial arts fighter, professional wrestler and author. Raised in Huntington Beach, California, he wrestled as an amateur from the age of nine, was a California community college All-American at Cypress College and graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a degree in history. He entered the Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 6 in July 1995, where he knocked out John Matua in the first 18 seconds of his opening fight and reached the final before losing to Oleg Taktarov. Billed as a pit fighter with a street-brawling style, he became an icon of the early UFC and challenged for the heavyweight championship once, in 1997. He also competed in PRIDE, Strikeforce, EliteXC and Cage Rage, and wrote the Before There Were Rules trilogy of novels.