Who's here after watching Joe Rogan experience today? John McCarthy really didn't have any reason to stand them up, I think tank was right that Big John had it out for him
Didn’t you read the rules at the start tho, it said the ref can restart the fight when they were saying that rule wasn’t in. Maybe I’m wrong but yeah it says it in the start.
@TheCrazycrab2 nobody has said anything about illegality... rather simply that McCarthy, by many of his game changing decisions both on and allegedly offscreen ( as well as his wife's ) appeared to have it out for Tank Abott, as well as had an appetite for power and the limelight that comes with it..
Tank also got screwed because Taktarov's previous fight was fixed. Macias had the same manager as Taktarov so he threw the fight, that way Taktarov would still be fresh when he went up against Tank.
Calling it here. If Tank hadn't shown up at UFC 6, the whole concept of MMA would have faded into obscurity. People were already sick of watching Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock roll for 45 minutes. When Tank cracked Matua, MMA was reborn!
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 for awhile there the UFC was only Tank and he helped propel the sport to where it is today. Damn right this man saved MMA in the USA!!
@@robertlambert4514 No he didn't, there was def other guys, I know I was there and I watched them. Tank did not get me to watch, I would have watched anyway as a martial artist no matter who was fighting.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 "I would have watched anyway as a martial artist". Guys like Tank got the average person watching. I've been watching from the beginning, and the biggest complaint from people in the early days was the grappling. Your average person finds that shit boring. They want to see a blood bath. Guys like Tank and Liddell didn't have skill beyond brawling, but it's those guys that made it more popular.
😂 I was thinking the same thing but the only rules were no biting and no eye gouging. So fish hooks, stomping, and shots to the back of the head were all legal moves.
I used to think that TA had no technique, but the more I learn about grappling, the more I see that he's actually a good wrestler with good defense against submissions.
King of the streets on youtube, is the modern version of the old school ufc, but on a concrete floor, and with *everything* including eye gouging, biting etc, allowed. they even have some pro mma fighters competing (not from the ufc, but from european leagues)
@@thaistomp like i said in my other comment, if youre a fan of that golden age, vale tudo style of fighting, check out King of the Streets on youtube. *no* rules. Eye gouging, biting etc is allowed. they also fight on concrete.
@@ssths That sounds interesting man. I still think Vale Tudo is the best rule-set for fighting. Biting and eye gouging should never be allowed in a competition fight imo. I still might check it out though haha.
@@thaistomp yeah, ive been inclined to agree, until a specific fight with KOTS, where a guy was trying REALLY HARD to gouge out a guys eyes, and it didnt work, because the dude just shut his eyes lol. tried it with a friend. it works, but your eyelid will swell. still, its a huge gamble and id rather guys not have to risk it. again, though, it doesnt happen often, so if you DO wanna check out KOTS, youd be pretty easily able to avoid viewing anything where there is permanent damage.
I was lucky enough to have the descrambler box back in the 90's and was able to get every channel for free including PPV channels. Although it was illegal, it was nice to have. I watched the first 11 UFC's live. I wasn't impressed with any of the fighters until Tank Abbott made his debut at UFC 6. Watching him fight was pure excitement and adrenaline. It was equivalent to watching a Mike Tyson fight back in the 80's. I believe Tank put the UFC on the map, not Gracie, not Shamrock, Severn or Taktarov. It was Tank who brought the thrill into the octagon. He was the very first "true" fighter. The next person who brought that excitement didn't come along until the debut of Vitor Belfort. Crazy hand speed and accuracy. Insane to watch him go! The good old days. Tournament format. Crazy!
youtube King of the Cage. Its got less rules than the og UFC. They fight on concrete, and allow everything including eye gouging, biting, stomps to grounded opponents an everything.
@@LaSean640 lol holy hell, youre totally right. mustve been drunk when i typed that or something lol. its deffo king of the *streets*. and I thought the same at first, but now im not so sure. it seems like the guys fighting there, a decent selection of them are accustomed to fighting in a street environment, so bad injuries arent as regular as id expect. and the eye gouging is rare too. its also not as effective as one would think either. in the two cases i saw it used, it was far from an immediate fight ender. Most of these king of the streets guys come from a hooligan background, so theyre used to fighting in parking garages, on muddy hills, on sidewalks etc, so they take some precautions against fall damage from hard surfaces (or if they dont, they learn to quite quickly). ive only seen a couple fights end because someone hurt themselves with the ground, and only a few where the gorund was used as a fight ending weapon. I still agree with you though, their careers will probably still be shorter than an mma fighter's. minor damage from bumps and falls on the ground will accumulate faster than they would on a mat, regardless of precautions taken.
@@BillyBob-wq9flyea a lot of these early guys didn't do much endurance training. Makes sense considering most of these fights were done in a matter of minutes. It's when a quick bout turns into an extended grapple that it comes back to bite em
I wouldn’t call him the greatest of all time but if you feel that way that’s cool. Personally, I liked UFC better back in these days because it truly was the Bloodsport (movie) concept. Put fighters of all different disciplines in a tournament and see who wins and how their styles mesh with other styles. Nowadays it’s so formulaic. All of the fighters are xerox copies of each other. Everybody cross trains in all the same arts.
Oleg Taktarov came to the USA to study at the school of actors, he graduated from the Academy of Arts and actually became an actor in Russia and the USA, he starred in Robert Rodriguez's Predator and in many Russian films.
Oleg got lucky. Tank had 2 real fights before facing him. He had one. His second fight he fought a friend of his. The guy who was a kickboxer ran across the ring, shot for a takedown against Oleg, a grappler and got submitted in like 10 seconds. His friend threw the fight.
Tank Abbot was a monster. Guy could bench 600 lbs, upright row 315lbs to his chin, do 150lb arm curls, knock out and wrestle around 400 lb guys all while weighing 280 lbs... And he was still beaten buy a guy in a long drawn out fight with both standing and ground game who weighed only 210 lbs... Taktarov was something out of this world.
Look how fast tanks hands were kids he weighed ,280 and hit hard he also was a div 2 NCAA wrestler he hurt his knee so he quit wrestling he was a beast then and fought injured vs cheats on peds and was close to winning it all multiple times he gave Rizzo the hardest striker ever a good fight thats how he will be remembered
if they had rounds and were not at the altittude Tank would have won that fight, he was always kinda unlucky like when he fought Frye and slipped as he was starting to control the fight and here fighting in the high altitude under the olf fight settings.
Tank was the only fighter to wear gloves in this event however he wasn't the first to wear them. People often forget it was boxer Melton Bowen in UFC IV who wore them first.
I wonder if Tank would have won his last fight under different circumstances. Remember, it's widely believed Oleg got a Bye in his semifinal match against Anthony Macias. They were friends, training partners, and had the same manager. Macias is a kickboxer and shoots in against an expert grappler and taps to half a choke in 12 seconds. Even the announcers sniffed it out when it aired.
@@johnrawlings2161 do you honestly believe tank was more athletic than royce or ken shamrock? you gotta be kidding lmfao. tank had power but athleticism? you're fooling yourself there
Big respect to Taktarov! I watched this live and the Varelans vs Abbott fight was brutal the camera angle on Varelans neck when Tank had his knee on his head and was pulling in the fence with his weight and grip was just vicious. I liked Tank I rooted for him at like 13 years old. Watching it now I was like OKAY dude . Because I knew Oleg would whip his ass. Oleg is a true Martial Artist and now has some decent acting credentials. Tank is a beast. Oleg is a Martial Artist and honestly one of the first true Mixed Martial Artists the UFC had seen.
Man, guys, these fighters weren't picked off the street. Look at tanks SHOES, dudes a WRESTLER that can strike...not a striker that can wrestle. To this day same thing, you MUST know ground skills, striking is a very distant second. The only reason we see striking is because the audience wants action. If we wanted to see a fight to the death between the best two fighters, it will be a ground game, and at LEAST 2 hours on the ground.
@@Tylar122 You're delusional. He got dominated for 23 mins, surviving on having great cardio and a god-given chin. Landed 1 good punch, but was too busy acting tough to properly hunt for a finish. It was not a good performance at all, and was more a failing of Edward's gas tank.
I had fightpass for like 4 years. It was cool to go back and watch the first events. Every guy was a character and it was easy to find yourself rooting for a guy to win it all. Guys like Tank, Scott Ferrozo, Harold Howard, were some of my favorites from the old days.
@@seanthegod4585 Trump's more liberal than obama. Y'all already forget he had the country locked down the last 2 years of his presidency because a cough was going around?
*“I’m going to be the most athletic person who’s ever stepped into the octagon..”* - to quote the great Inigo Montoya: “I do not think that word means what you think it means.”
It really sucks that Tank got winded so fast... even if he had just a little better cardio who knows how many more people he would have gone through... probably one of if not the toughest “street fighter “ to ever set foot inside the octagon...
He was a lot more than just a street fighter, though. Sure he was a dude who enjoyed throwing down at bars, but he had plenty of wrestling and boxing experience. More than most of the competitors back in those early days. He was also the first guy (other than Art Jimmerson) to wear some sort of gloves to avoid breaking his hands. He knew what he was doing.
@@ChillPill365 Very well said👍.. I never knew Tank was one of, if not the first man to bring those mma style gloves into the ring.. There’s no doubt he knew what he was doing.. when I use the term “street fighter “ in reference to him, it’s more because of his style and technique, which was to not try and feel anything out about his opponent, but more like just go right at him and win with superior overwhelming violence haha.. and if he had to take a shot or two so he could land a couple of his bombs then that was fine with him.. just as long as he wins, and I suppose that is the ultimate goal, right??... In absolutely no way am I saying anything remotely critical of Tank.. The man is a legend and one of the toughest men to ever step foot in any ring.. He backed down from Nobody, and could never be intimidated... He focused on getting the job done and getting it done quick... Nothing but respect for the man 100%..👍👍🇺🇸
Tank did such a great job at his debut in UFC 6 Tua and Varlens are no joke in the day and then going that long with Taktarov just amazing. Most fighters back then did not get three big names in a row normally first fight was someone you heard of vs someone you never heard of and then the second fight was a toss up and the third was the big fight star vs star. In this one tank had 3 names that people even knew back then and took the first two out super fast and came very close to winning the last fight as well.
Crazy watching these old ufc events and seeing how far it’s come. Dudes wearing street clothes and shoes, some are fighting bare knuckle, no time limit or rounds, and far less technical skills but still fun to watch brawls.
Taktarov was impressive, fighting a guy 70 lbs. heavier and w/ streetfighting skills! Wow! Had he had kicking skills he would have ended the fight earlier.
2:09 No way Matua is 400 pounds. I think they’re using some WWE-type hype stuff, like “Kevin Nash is seven feet tall!” kinda thing. Matua looks to be about Tank’s size, I find it hard to believe that the former outweighs the latter by 120 pounds.
They didn't actually do weigh-ins back then, so most of the weights are either estimations or just whatever the fighters put down on their applications. I think you need something like a farm animal scale to get an accurate weight of somebody over 400 lbs.
Say what you will about Tank's technique and conditioning, but very few ever hit harder. the guy's punching power was first-rate. At 40 years old, he knocked out Cabbage like it was nothing, that alone is legendary.
@@Robert-nu4vcok robert. I watched all his fights and all fighting since 1990.. He is top 10 for sure. Fedor was a great puncher too. Tank floored Frye with a jab ok.
Tank Abbott made a 400 lb man look like a punk he beat him bad. It don't matter how big you are someone's head is still the same size and if you get punched it don't matter. Someone's head can only take so much of a pounding the 400 pounder couldn't take that pounding his head just almost blew up
Tank was cheated in this tourney. Oleg got to fight his training partner Anthony Macias in the second round. Macias clearly threw the fight as quickly as possible giving Oleg a bye to the finals.
I saw an interview with Tank where he said his fight with Oleg Taktarov was the greatest 18 minutes of his life. He said he respects Oleg the most out of any opponent in his career. Oleg was one TOUGH s.o.b.
Огромное уважение Олегу Тактарову,за волю к победе и стойкость! Выдержал шквал атак,от такого кабана,да ещё из последних сил придушил его! И соперник не сразу сдался,а только тогда,когда почувствовал что силы у Олега остались,для последнего удушающего! В конце,рефери сказал на английском: Русский медведь!
@@kraftfahrer4696 а второй хоть и дышал еле еле, но терпел,не сдавался, и сделал удушающий прием. Или по твоему ему надо было сдаться нафиг? Или танку надо было победу присудить за то что постучал?
" I'm probably gonna go to a bar and pick a fight" Tank after a MMA victory
Who's here after watching Joe Rogan experience today? John McCarthy really didn't have any reason to stand them up, I think tank was right that Big John had it out for him
Exactly same..
Didn’t you read the rules at the start tho, it said the ref can restart the fight when they were saying that rule wasn’t in.
Maybe I’m wrong but yeah it says it in the start.
@TheCrazycrab2 nobody has said anything about illegality... rather simply that McCarthy, by many of his game changing decisions both on and allegedly offscreen ( as well as his wife's ) appeared to have it out for Tank Abott, as well as had an appetite for power and the limelight that comes with it..
Tank also got screwed because Taktarov's previous fight was fixed. Macias had the same manager as Taktarov so he threw the fight, that way Taktarov would still be fresh when he went up against Tank.
Tank got screwed
the early Ufc days was so barbarbaic and it was amazing lol
we get it boomer
Barbaric you fool
"WELCOME TO CASPER, WYOMING!!"
@@lifeisstr4nge My bad *Barbarbarbarbaraicbaraciarbariabaraic
But the fighters sucked back then . if you placed any of the from this era in this fights, there would have been a death in the UFC
Tank was the first guy to use super necessary punches.
he mastered the art of really hard punches when most of the martial arts world was using regular hard punches.
I see what you did there 😂
Calling it here. If Tank hadn't shown up at UFC 6, the whole concept of MMA would have faded into obscurity. People were already sick of watching Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock roll for 45 minutes. When Tank cracked Matua, MMA was reborn!
I really agree with that. You're the shit for saying it and I hope you have a good day
He was never that important that the UFC hanged on his being there or not. GTFOH.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 for awhile there the UFC was only Tank and he helped propel the sport to where it is today. Damn right this man saved MMA in the USA!!
@@robertlambert4514 No he didn't, there was def other guys, I know I was there and I watched them. Tank did not get me to watch, I would have watched anyway as a martial artist no matter who was fighting.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 "I would have watched anyway as a martial artist". Guys like Tank got the average person watching. I've been watching from the beginning, and the biggest complaint from people in the early days was the grappling. Your average person finds that shit boring. They want to see a blood bath. Guys like Tank and Liddell didn't have skill beyond brawling, but it's those guys that made it more popular.
I love Tank comes out with a haymaker to the dome everytime.
Facts one of my favorite 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
"Headhunter"
That's all he had. After 30 seconds he couldn't breathe and would get stomped or choked out like a bitch.
Thats how he would feel you out. The opponents would think they were out of range.. when suddenly they got cracked..
Thats a true street technique LOL, come out with the haymaker
I can't believe he's six years younger than me here, he looks like one of my dad's drinking buddies
Right 😂
He was a man among boys
My dad actually drank with tank Abbott once my dad said he was super nice
I believe it.
he is
Tank Abbott fish hooking that guy at 8:35 is something you don't see everyday lol
Yeah that was bullshit, if fishhooks are legal, biting the fingers should be legal.
Many of the modern ufc rules were invented because of Tank Abott
😂 I was thinking the same thing but the only rules were no biting and no eye gouging. So fish hooks, stomping, and shots to the back of the head were all legal moves.
@@grainsupply7563 you weren't allowed to fishhook or eye gouge back then either. They said there were no rules but there were.
@@JAKT7 fishhooks were illegal back then too, tank JDGAF lol.
When viciousness made up for technique, amazing
I used to think that TA had no technique, but the more I learn about grappling, the more I see that he's actually a good wrestler with good defense against submissions.
Yeah title fights weren't ONE fight...
@@SwedishMeattball I'm not doubting Tank Abbotts skills, today's MMA fans don't understand multiple fight nights.
@@poleag TA is a character. The man is a skilled martial artist.
Tank could bench press 600 pounds.
He had Matua cranking that Soulja Boy
Had to scroll n see if someone had already made this joke looooool
He dabbed
LMFAO
STRIKING A POSE WIT MADONNA!!😂😅😅😂....3:40....😂😂😂😂😅😅😅😅
Old ufc is the reason I got into training mma. That was real toughness . Nothing like today with all the athletic ability. It was just balls then
Golden age of fighting.
King of the streets on youtube, is the modern version of the old school ufc, but on a concrete floor, and with *everything* including eye gouging, biting etc, allowed. they even have some pro mma fighters competing (not from the ufc, but from european leagues)
@@thaistomp like i said in my other comment, if youre a fan of that golden age, vale tudo style of fighting, check out King of the Streets on youtube. *no* rules. Eye gouging, biting etc is allowed. they also fight on concrete.
@@ssths That sounds interesting man. I still think Vale Tudo is the best rule-set for fighting. Biting and eye gouging should never be allowed in a competition fight imo. I still might check it out though haha.
@@thaistomp yeah, ive been inclined to agree, until a specific fight with KOTS, where a guy was trying REALLY HARD to gouge out a guys eyes, and it didnt work, because the dude just shut his eyes lol. tried it with a friend. it works, but your eyelid will swell. still, its a huge gamble and id rather guys not have to risk it. again, though, it doesnt happen often, so if you DO wanna check out KOTS, youd be pretty easily able to avoid viewing anything where there is permanent damage.
I was lucky enough to have the descrambler box back in the 90's and was able to get every channel for free including PPV channels. Although it was illegal, it was nice to have. I watched the first 11 UFC's live. I wasn't impressed with any of the fighters until Tank Abbott made his debut at UFC 6. Watching him fight was pure excitement and adrenaline. It was equivalent to watching a Mike Tyson fight back in the 80's. I believe Tank put the UFC on the map, not Gracie, not Shamrock, Severn or Taktarov. It was Tank who brought the thrill into the octagon. He was the very first "true" fighter. The next person who brought that excitement didn't come along until the debut of Vitor Belfort. Crazy hand speed and accuracy. Insane to watch him go! The good old days. Tournament format. Crazy!
He was the peoples champ back then I was a little kid watching the fights with my pops on the hot box lol
FCC here.....we would like to set up an appointment.....................................lol
Well said, I totally agree with you, tank was an exciting fighter to watch.
that’s something a lot of people don’t consider when mentioning people who put the ufc on the map
Have you ever paid for anything in your life?
Ahh the good old days. Back when the only rules were "no biting, no eye gouging"
9:53
Fish-hooking?
Fun Fact about Casper, Wyoming (location):
It was named after 2nd Lieutenant Caspar Collins, they spelled it wrong.
youtube King of the Cage. Its got less rules than the og UFC. They fight on concrete, and allow everything including eye gouging, biting, stomps to grounded opponents an everything.
@@ssthsIt’s King of the Streets, and what they’re doing is pretty dope but none of those guys are gonna have long careers, especially with eye poking
@@LaSean640 lol holy hell, youre totally right. mustve been drunk when i typed that or something lol. its deffo king of the *streets*. and I thought the same at first, but now im not so sure. it seems like the guys fighting there, a decent selection of them are accustomed to fighting in a street environment, so bad injuries arent as regular as id expect. and the eye gouging is rare too. its also not as effective as one would think either. in the two cases i saw it used, it was far from an immediate fight ender.
Most of these king of the streets guys come from a hooligan background, so theyre used to fighting in parking garages, on muddy hills, on sidewalks etc, so they take some precautions against fall damage from hard surfaces (or if they dont, they learn to quite quickly). ive only seen a couple fights end because someone hurt themselves with the ground, and only a few where the gorund was used as a fight ending weapon. I still agree with you though, their careers will probably still be shorter than an mma fighter's. minor damage from bumps and falls on the ground will accumulate faster than they would on a mat, regardless of precautions taken.
Or fish hooking but Tank was on the last fight! But hey ho, love them both anyway and hey ho, he didn’t complain and won anyway.
Back when the UFC was Viking Gladiator Sparta style. People damn near died like back in ancient Greek days. What a time!
FINISH HIM
John hitler
@@kutthroat3250 lmfao
The Russian Bear was awesome to be only 210 lbs. You Gatta give it up for the warrior!
One bad dude who is now a legend by beating tank Abbot LEGEND!!!
@@RickHorejsi”beating” a winded Tank.
He’s an actor. You’ve seen him in movies like predators. Oleg got better after this fight too
@@BillyBob-wq9flyea a lot of these early guys didn't do much endurance training. Makes sense considering most of these fights were done in a matter of minutes. It's when a quick bout turns into an extended grapple that it comes back to bite em
@@The509sfinesti thought he looked familiar but never put it together. I know I've seen him in a couple things
Tank Abbott put the UFC on the map to me he is the greatest of all time.
I wouldn’t call him the greatest of all time but if you feel that way that’s cool. Personally, I liked UFC better back in these days because it truly was the Bloodsport (movie) concept. Put fighters of all different disciplines in a tournament and see who wins and how their styles mesh with other styles. Nowadays it’s so formulaic. All of the fighters are xerox copies of each other. Everybody cross trains in all the same arts.
"I wanted too tickle his brain a little bit"🤣🤣
Just love the early presence of Jim Brown at these events. He was a tough guy amongst tough guys when he played pro football.
my favorite Jim Brown saying was " I can't understand why a grown man would run out of bounds"
Dude had a knack for mma commentary. Loved Jim.
that russian dude was a monster
Oleg Taktarov came to the USA to study at the school of actors, he graduated from the Academy of Arts and actually became an actor in Russia and the USA, he starred in Robert Rodriguez's Predator and in many Russian films.
@@blackmesabms7303 wow. I didn't know he was in predators 😯😯
@@seferino He was the big guy that didn't talk much with the Gatling gun
@@dirkhardpec7881 He was the Gatling Gun that the Russian held.
Oleg got lucky. Tank had 2 real fights before facing him. He had one. His second fight he fought a friend of his. The guy who was a kickboxer ran across the ring, shot for a takedown against Oleg, a grappler and got submitted in like 10 seconds. His friend threw the fight.
6:12 Jim Brown said it best, Abbott was a street fighter! Here in his prime he was an intimidating juggernaut.
Back in these days they'd match Volkanovski vs Jon Jones
Could you image that fight? 😂🤦🏾
@@charlesaguinaldo8483 jon jones would wipe his nose with the pores in volks bald ass head
They would of had mighty mouse vs Brock lesner back then 🤣
Francis ngannou vs volkanovski
Moreno vs ngannou, who wouldn't pay for that
Tank is a quiet retired older man now who, after some medical issues, seems to appreciate his peaceful lifestyle now.. In his day he was the best
Tank was my favorite back in the day!
So glad I found this replay
He was very accurate with those quick strikes
Tank Abbot was a monster. Guy could bench 600 lbs, upright row 315lbs to his chin, do 150lb arm curls, knock out and wrestle around 400 lb guys all while weighing 280 lbs... And he was still beaten buy a guy in a long drawn out fight with both standing and ground game who weighed only 210 lbs... Taktarov was something out of this world.
Look how fast tanks hands were kids he weighed ,280 and hit hard he also was a div 2 NCAA wrestler he hurt his knee so he quit wrestling he was a beast then and fought injured vs cheats on peds and was close to winning it all multiple times he gave Rizzo the hardest striker ever a good fight thats how he will be remembered
Slice dealt tank a two piece and a biscuit. He was overrated.
Taktarov was a good wrestler, one of the first professionals in mixed martial arts. He knew very well how to fight with Tank, used his endurance..
if they had rounds and were not at the altittude Tank would have won that fight, he was always kinda unlucky like when he fought Frye and slipped as he was starting to control the fight and here fighting in the high altitude under the olf fight settings.
too bad he tarnished his legacy by coming back over the hill to drop a fight to kimbo the bum destroyer.
That shot of them both laying on their backs completely gassed is hilarious. Ah the good old days.
Tank was the only one that wore gloves. I bet he broke his hands a bunch of times in street fights.
Him and Don Frye knew wearing gloves allowed you to hit harder.
Tank was the only fighter to wear gloves in this event however he wasn't the first to wear them.
People often forget it was boxer Melton Bowen in UFC IV who wore them first.
tank abbot is such a powerhouse. its amazing he fought a 400lbs man, the size of these men is unreal
Matua was nowhere near 400 pounds. Back then, they could put anything on their application, and there was virtually no confirmation.
and no discipline or technique.
400 no way
One of the hardest hitters in early MMA history. This man is definitely as tough as he looks.
I still have my UFC6 t shirt I ordered via telephone when I ordered the PPV.
Still watching this in 2024, and loving it just as much as i did in the 90s. 💪🏼
I wonder if Tank would have won his last fight under different circumstances. Remember, it's widely believed Oleg got a Bye in his semifinal match against Anthony Macias. They were friends, training partners, and had the same manager. Macias is a kickboxer and shoots in against an expert grappler and taps to half a choke in 12 seconds. Even the announcers sniffed it out when it aired.
Oleg could tell that was a work and he looked pissed.
the wheres tyson sign killed me
Tyson was getting 10 million a fight while the UFC 1st prize was still like 75 grand
Ah, Tank fights w/ so much hatred... I love it!!!
Just watched Tank on Joe Rogan and what a great interview.
"i'm going to be the most athletic man to step into the octagon" lmaooo
Definitely not back in these days. Being in shape wasn't a requirement.
@@johnrawlings2161 Good Ol' Tank, back in the day, threw 600 lbs. JACKHAMMERS! not paltry 500 lbs.
@@johnrawlings2161 are you actually trying to say tank abbot is the most athletic man to compete in the octagon?😂😂
@@johnrawlings2161 do you honestly believe tank was more athletic than royce or ken shamrock? you gotta be kidding lmfao. tank had power but athleticism? you're fooling yourself there
@@johnrawlings2161 i also said ken shamrock. he was not more athletic than ken lmfao. and maybe
Tank Abbott. Self proclaimed best athlete . Love u Dave
What a channel the editing is legendary
Олег настоящий боец. Смотрел эти бои ещё на видеомагнитофоне.
Legend has it Matua is still laying there.
So you didn’t see him leaving?
@@spacejockey4746 That was his spirit bro!
you know this is brutal when the time is counting up
I was just thinking that like god damn dude 😂
Lmao the double fishhook. Absolute savagery. Love it
Last time I was this early I had just enough time to crack open my ModeloOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Big respect to Taktarov!
I watched this live and the Varelans vs Abbott fight was brutal the camera angle on Varelans neck when Tank had his knee on his head and was pulling in the fence with his weight and grip was just vicious. I liked Tank I rooted for him at like 13 years old. Watching it now I was like OKAY dude . Because I knew Oleg would whip his ass. Oleg is a true Martial Artist and now has some decent acting credentials.
Tank is a beast. Oleg is a Martial Artist and honestly one of the first true Mixed Martial Artists the UFC had seen.
17 min fight after fighting twice earlier in the night 😳
Yea my man ran definitely ran outta juice🤦🏾♂️
Some nights 4 or 5 times in a night. Early nineties the guys were animals.
6:24; where's Tank's line about "getting sexually aroused" that was epic 😂😂😂😂😂
Tank is who the 1%er bike clubs sent to collect the rent
shiiiit, Tank would be getting the rent money and a complimentary keg of Coors beer just for the hassle
This was awesome!
Man, guys, these fighters weren't picked off the street. Look at tanks SHOES, dudes a WRESTLER that can strike...not a striker that can wrestle. To this day same thing, you MUST know ground skills, striking is a very distant second. The only reason we see striking is because the audience wants action. If we wanted to see a fight to the death between the best two fighters, it will be a ground game, and at LEAST 2 hours on the ground.
UFC classics NEVER fail!!!
Пионерам UFS браво! За то что подарили это зрелище! 👍👍👍
Эти первые бои я смотрел и кайфовал это настоящие замесы смелых мужчин
The good ole days
Tbh they should extend the first round to 10 minutes like in pride.
It really shows here how much can happen when there ain't no time limit
Nate Diaz would be 9 division champ lol
@@gustavonanarosales2629 I think he would not know how to speak at this point in his career xD
@@gustavonanarosales2629 ...no he wouldn't. lol. Nate is a legend but he gets fucked up vs the top 10 welterweights. Above that he gets killed.
@@thegrinderman1090 he fought a great fight against the #2 welterweight in his last fight and certainly didn’t get “fucked up.”
@@Tylar122 You're delusional. He got dominated for 23 mins, surviving on having great cardio and a god-given chin. Landed 1 good punch, but was too busy acting tough to properly hunt for a finish. It was not a good performance at all, and was more a failing of Edward's gas tank.
Dude imagine having to fight off Tanks fishhooks long enough to choke him. Oleg was something else!
Remember watching these videos as a kid and being star struck!!!
UFC 303 Tank vs. Big John. Make it happen. haha
That’s another level of cardio
I don't think that any UFC fighter has had more INSTINCT than Tank.
“These days fighters would destroy him” HAH
@@mr.eryder9445 They would easily, he's a bum.
I had fightpass for like 4 years. It was cool to go back and watch the first events. Every guy was a character and it was easy to find yourself rooting for a guy to win it all. Guys like Tank, Scott Ferrozo, Harold Howard, were some of my favorites from the old days.
Back when men were men & America still had balls. God I miss it.
Trump 2024 🇺🇲
@@seanthegod4585 Yes Sir. Bring America back!
Tank was a r3tarded bum that gave up because of leg kicks
@@seanthegod4585 Trump's more liberal than obama. Y'all already forget he had the country locked down the last 2 years of his presidency because a cough was going around?
The mighty tank! At the end it was the cardio that got him.
That and every real fighter he faced who whooped his ass or choked him and made him tap like a sissy.
In real life that means life or death . Weak Cardio means - u dead .
Wow even Hasselhoff was the man at this time. Lol see the sparkle in his eye knowing cameras were on him trying to act smooth. 😄
Jim Brown is just awesome. A man’s man.
2:30 Tank does the funniest things that was hilarious
Legendary moment. Horrific to watch though
No class that guy.
Great to see the more iconic, more successful, more dignified of the Buffer brothers doing his thing as the OG.
Jim Brown has never been in a beautiful COUNTRY like Wyoming before
*“I’m going to be the most athletic person who’s ever stepped into the octagon..”* - to quote the great Inigo Montoya: “I do not think that word means what you think it means.”
You should have 1 million subs dude.
"Do you think tank would have performed better at lower elevation" "I think you would" lol😂😂 the commentary is awesome on these older videos.
Miss them multiple fight nights in today's UFC
I watch this when I was a 6yr old kid with my dad . Never thought UFC would be as big as it is now.
It really sucks that Tank got winded so fast... even if he had just a little better cardio who knows how many more people he would have gone through... probably one of if not the toughest “street fighter “ to ever set foot inside the octagon...
He was a lot more than just a street fighter, though. Sure he was a dude who enjoyed throwing down at bars, but he had plenty of wrestling and boxing experience. More than most of the competitors back in those early days.
He was also the first guy (other than Art Jimmerson) to wear some sort of gloves to avoid breaking his hands. He knew what he was doing.
@@ChillPill365 Very well said👍.. I never knew Tank was one of, if not the first man to bring those mma style gloves into the ring.. There’s no doubt he knew what he was doing.. when I use the term “street fighter “ in reference to him, it’s more because of his style and technique, which was to not try and feel anything out about his opponent, but more like just go right at him and win with superior overwhelming violence haha.. and if he had to take a shot or two so he could land a couple of his bombs then that was fine with him.. just as long as he wins, and I suppose that is the ultimate goal, right??... In absolutely no way am I saying anything remotely critical of Tank.. The man is a legend and one of the toughest men to ever step foot in any ring.. He backed down from Nobody, and could never be intimidated... He focused on getting the job done and getting it done quick... Nothing but respect for the man 100%..👍👍🇺🇸
@@ChillPill365 he didn't have ANY discipline to be a quality fighter.
Но Тактаров всё токи его натянул😂🎉
Tank was a true fighter. If he wasn’t fighting in the cage he was fighting in the streets ..
Tank did such a great job at his debut in UFC 6 Tua and Varlens are no joke in the day and then going that long with Taktarov just amazing. Most fighters back then did not get three big names in a row normally first fight was someone you heard of vs someone you never heard of and then the second fight was a toss up and the third was the big fight star vs star. In this one tank had 3 names that people even knew back then and took the first two out super fast and came very close to winning the last fight as well.
Real Fighting. Modern day is a sport with rules
".... a-as we look at the replay, .... our thoughts are with Jon Matua right now..."
Lmao
Did even Oleg know what he was getting at the end? He looked like he was signed out of the operating system
This was a really good video, I loved the final fight, both have hearts of a lion.
Matua's "I will tire him out by letting him beat on my head" strategy had some flaws.
Crazy watching these old ufc events and seeing how far it’s come. Dudes wearing street clothes and shoes, some are fighting bare knuckle, no time limit or rounds, and far less technical skills but still fun to watch brawls.
One of the rules was no biting 😂😂 tha fuuckk haha damn these guys were savages
If I'm attacked I would absolutely consider biting, headbutting, repeated groin punching, etc
@@unwnme groin strikes was allowed at that time lol
@@slinergumble3593 no fcking way thats actually insane.
@@frek175 watch keith hackney vs joe son fight, that was nasty, but legal
@@slinergumble3593 they banned those after UFC 4.
what a throwback
I remember and love the old NHB days.
Beginning of ufc was amazing!
Taktarov was impressive, fighting a guy 70 lbs. heavier and w/ streetfighting skills! Wow! Had he had kicking skills he would have ended the fight earlier.
The last fight was absolutely nuts. 11 minutes no rules… wow what a fight. 😮
17, Nan, 17...
2:09 No way Matua is 400 pounds. I think they’re using some WWE-type hype stuff, like “Kevin Nash is seven feet tall!” kinda thing. Matua looks to be about Tank’s size, I find it hard to believe that the former outweighs the latter by 120 pounds.
I was thinking the same lmao he had to be at least 270 maybe
They didn't actually do weigh-ins back then, so most of the weights are either estimations or just whatever the fighters put down on their applications. I think you need something like a farm animal scale to get an accurate weight of somebody over 400 lbs.
@@ThePinkMan Oh my god, this is THE ThePinkMan! Thanks for the info and I hope you’re doing well.
@@diqflip205 I would put him at 300 pretty easy.
Say what you will about Tank's technique and conditioning, but very few ever hit harder. the guy's punching power was first-rate. At 40 years old, he knocked out Cabbage like it was nothing, that alone is legendary.
Many guys hit way harder than Tank. He's not even in the top 100 hard punchers.
@@Robert-nu4vcok robert. I watched all his fights and all fighting since 1990.. He is top 10 for sure. Fedor was a great puncher too. Tank floored Frye with a jab ok.
one of my favorites growing up.
I didn’t know Mick Foley was in UFC
Tank Abbott made a 400 lb man look like a punk he beat him bad. It don't matter how big you are someone's head is still the same size and if you get punched it don't matter. Someone's head can only take so much of a pounding the 400 pounder couldn't take that pounding his head just almost blew up
I grew up watching Tank fight. Aa soon as a UFC dvd would drop we had it. He was always my fave back then. He created Tito Ortiz as well.
That stand up at the end might have cost Tank the fight
Tank was cheated in this tourney. Oleg got to fight his training partner Anthony Macias in the second round. Macias clearly threw the fight as quickly as possible giving Oleg a bye to the finals.
I saw an interview with Tank where he said his fight with Oleg Taktarov was the greatest 18 minutes of his life. He said he respects Oleg the most out of any opponent in his career. Oleg was one TOUGH s.o.b.
Mick foley inna face
"Our thoughts are with Mattua right now" There you know Tank Abbot is a badass who send people to other realms.
If tank threw a proper punch he'd be laying everyone out.
Tank threw 7 punches in that first fight and was gassed. I love it. Straight from the barstool to the octagon. This is how I like my UFC fighters.
Огромное уважение Олегу Тактарову,за волю к победе и стойкость! Выдержал шквал атак,от такого кабана,да ещё из последних сил придушил его! И соперник не сразу сдался,а только тогда,когда почувствовал что силы у Олега остались,для последнего удушающего! В конце,рефери сказал на английском: Русский медведь!
I watched all these early cards on here last summer. It was so awesome
Вот первый чемпион из России в UFS.
Самое интересное то что после этого боя "победитель" отправился в больничку,а "проигравший"-в бар с тёлками;)
@@kraftfahrer4696 и? По правилам боя Тактаров победил.
@@Erdem17-e8r наxyй такая победа, когда ты еле дышишь?)
@@kraftfahrer4696 вообще то еле двшал танк, а когда вообше перестал дышать, то постучал и сдался
@@kraftfahrer4696 а второй хоть и дышал еле еле, но терпел,не сдавался, и сделал удушающий прием. Или по твоему ему надо было сдаться нафиг? Или танку надо было победу присудить за то что постучал?
ufc was so cool back in the day. tournaments, option to have gloves or bareknuckle, shoes or no shoes. Good ol days
What went wrong?