Kimbo vs. Tank an old-school showdown

One man has only been in official combat 19 seconds of an entire one match career. The other is 42 years old, and has exactly one victory since the spring of 1998. On paper, that sounds like a fight that shouldn’t even be on a major promotion show, let alone as a much talked about main event.

But when you throw out the names “Kimbo” and “Tank” in the MMA world, people think “slobberknocker.”

Saturday night’s Elite XC Showtime even headlined by backyard brawler Kimbo Slice, the alter ego of Kevin Ferguson, and pioneer street fighter, David “Tank” Abbott, appears to have more national interest than all but one non-UFC MMA match (the Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le match on March 29) during the first several months of this year.

In a sport in which you can match highly ranked fighters against each other and unless you have the UFC brand name, you can struggle to sell tickets, the 7,000-seat BankUnited Center in Miami, where Slice grew up and lives, was 300 tickets shy of being sold out on Thursday, according to Elite XC promoter Gary Shaw. And the match between the stereotypes of the two guys you don’t want to see in a dark alley is likely to draw Showtime’s highest MMA ratings for as it enters its second year in the game.

“A ‘B’ fighter with personality will always draw better than an ‘A+’ vanilla fighter,” noted Shaw, who put together a match that was originally scheduled for last fall in Atlantic City with a promotion that folded the week before the show. “If you have a guy like Kimbo and Tank who then talk the talk, then it gets exciting.”

Shaw noted the unique Slice, made famous by Internet videos of him giving horrific beatings to non-fighters in backyard street fights, is one of those guys with a rare charisma that when he walks into a room, he takes over the room and everybody knows he’s there. Or an arena, as exemplified in his two prior appearances before paying customers.

So does his opponent, one of the most famous MMA fighters of all-time, despite having a 9-13 career record.

Slice is officially 1-0, finishing Bo Cantrell in 19 seconds of a strange spectacle in Corpus Christi on Nov. 10. He also has what is considered an exhibition win last year against aging former heavyweight boxing king Ray Mercer. He pummeled the ex-champ against the cage, took him down and choked him out. Against Cantrell, a late replacement, his opponent apparently went into the fight with food poisoning, and after taking a hard shot under the arm, was reaching for the mat to tap about before he even got there.

Shaw had talked Slice up when signing him last fall as the modern version of the late ‘80s Mike Tyson, claiming he’d become the first man to win both an MMA and a boxing world heavyweight championship. But starting the game at 33 with no top level background in any feeder sport like wrestling, judo, kickboxing or jiu-jitsu, makes the odds astronomical of that happening in MMA, let alone in boxing.

Yet Slice seems to be the top fighter Shaw is marketing in his attempt to become the first non-UFC promoter to truly break through on the U.S. scene. He has a powerful ally in Showtime, which is planning on doing 16 live broadcasts this year. But Elite XC suffered heavy losses in year one, upwards of $20 million, causing the stock to go from $15 per share down to $3.

There is little question Slice has some charisma that with the right exposure, could make him a star. As for his fighting, like with any newcomer, there are a lot of mistakes to learn from, and the jury is very much out. But for Kimbo to become the star that carries the promotion, at some point people have to see him beat legitimate high level guys.

With Abbott, Shaw has almost the perfect opponent for Slice this stage of his career. Abbott made his reputation as one of the biggest stars during the early days of the UFC based on some spectacular knockouts of fighters who likely didn’t have all that much more true fighting experience than the guys Slice viciously beat down in his backyard fights. Abbott, like Slice, has tremendous appeal to people who weren’t sophisticated in their knowledge of fighting, and who wanted to believe the toughest bar fighter, biker or truck driver type they knew in town and saw cold cock someone in a street fighter, could walk into a cage and get that same shot in and do the same thing with the trained fighters who compete in the UFC.

Abbott, from Huntington Beach, CA, became the representative of that mentality. He looked the part, with his menacing eyes, psychotic laugh, brazen talk toothless smile, short hair, big beard and beer belly. In the early days of UFC, when the skill was primitive, he got that shot in a few times, and in a strange way, somehow, despite never winning any big ones, became an early legend.

He certainly talked the part, with his tales of 200 street fights. And after making that reputation, more than a decade later, he’s the closest thing to a Teflon fighter.

On February 28, 2003, when he was brought back to UFC after four plus years collecting on a lucrative pro wrestling contract, he lasted all of 46 seconds, being taken down and submitted to a toe hold by a young Frank Mir. He’s been 1-5 since that time, and he never even made it out of the first round in any of the losses. Yet when he came to the ring in his last fight, as a last minute replacement, and for a big payday, against Gary Turner last April in England, the entire arena reacted like he was Chuck Liddell. And the early days of UFC when he scored those big knockouts wasn’t even televised in that country. And after an exciting early flurry, like usual, he quickly gassed out, Turner took control with punches and Abbott was quickly finished.

Abbott still commands six-figure paydays and at least some curiosity from a fan base that buzzes with the idea that maybe they’ll see a reprise of the 1996 knockout of Steve Nelmark where one punch knocked the man unconscious and twisted like a pretzel, still halfway standing as he was held up by the cage.

For Slice, who is essentially being pushed as the modern version of what Abbott represented in the early days of the sport, this fight is a test in more ways than one. Ticket sales and local buzz has established that he can be a drawing card in his home town. The ratings will determine if that Internet fame is enough for him to be a key in carrying the promotion. The fight, provided he wins, may be seen as more than it really is as far as his level as a fighter. If he gets caught, and Abbott does have the punchers chance, it will be devastating for his career. Realistically, if he’s any kind of for real, this isn’t the guy who will derail him.

“The only thing I want to do is win,” said Slice, “But the main thing is I want to break something along the way—a chin or jaw, rib, arm, some skin, anything. If this turns out to be just a fist-fight, then I am looking forward to it. If it goes to the ground, then I will be definitely looking forward to it.”

Abbott, to his credit, appears to be in better shape than he has been over the past few years and from all accounts, trained seriously for the fight. And he remained his usual colorful self in promotional work.

“Training has just evolved for this fight more than for any of my other opponents,” Abbott said at Thursday’s press conference. “I have taken it very seriously.

“Kimbo is going to get hurt, that’s for sure,” he said. “The way I am and the shape I’m in right now, I can’t fathom a human being who can take five minutes of my shots. I am on fire now.”

“Tank is full of **** if he thinks I can’t take his punches,” said Slice. “I’m bringing the whole thing to the cage. I am bringing the ‘hood with me to the cage.”