2011 Off topic thread(basketball,movies,etc whatever)

[Ludo]

It's true. He was labeled a pit fighter by the UFC mostly because of his appearance. He was a decent wrestler and had indeed done boxing training prior to competing in the UFC.

[SPX]

At the age of 38 and after a 4 and a half year hiatus from MMA.

I was being funny, but I have little doubt that Murr would have easily tapped him in his prime, too.

[MMA_scientist]

I knew he was a good HS wrestler, I did not know that he was an actual collegiate wrestler though. I read it on the internetz. May not be true:

His bad boy image and tough biker look have led many people to believe that Abbott is nothing more than a common hoodlum with a natural ability to throw punches. In reality, he never practiced any style called "Pit Fighting" and had been boxing for up to 13 years before his UFC debut and had been wrestling since high school and during his years at college. He had been coached in boxing under Jesse Reid and Tyrone Bennett and his wrestling career began at the age of 9 and by the age of 18 he became a Junior college All-American. He is also an educated man, holding a degree in history.

http://wrestlingredux.blogspot.com/2007/07/tank-abbott.html

http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Tank_Abbott

[Mr. IWS]

Paul Varlans + "Trap Fighting" = lolut

I swear I saw Varlans getting the shit beat out of him by Mark Kerr on the Smashing Machine doc in some Vale Tudo early days shit.

And what the fuck is Trap Fighting?

War Marco Ruas and the Garvin foot stomps.

[Mr. IWS]

inb4tankabbotfootballpic

[MMA_scientist]

inb4tankabbotfootballpic

I don't know what the hell you are talking about. Is there a tank abbott conspiracy on the internetz that I somehow missed?

[MMA_scientist]

World class athlete

[Luke]

inb4tankabbotfootballpic

[Ludo]

I was being funny, but I have little doubt that Murr would have easily tapped him in his prime, too.

That very well may be true. However given the circumstances it holds less meaning that it would have had he actually done so.

[MMA_scientist]

Crap, that is a funny site. Check out Danzig:

[SPX]

I've seen that Danzig pic before. Shit's hilarious.

[Svino]

Kimo was a blackbelt in TKD when he fought Royce, fwiw. I also read somewhere that he was a blackbelt in japanese jj at the time.

I'm not specifically trying to diminish what Royce did (other then to point out the obvious that the competition in those early days wasn't that strong.) But I think they legitimately tried hard to get the best strikers they could in the UFC.

A lot of what I know (or think I know) about the behind-the-scenes stuff from the early UFCs comes from Clyde Gentry's book "No Holds Barred"

http://www.amazon.com/No-Holds-Barred-Ultimate-Revolution/dp/190385430X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299020560&sr=1-1

which is pretty good reading if you're interested in that kind of thing. Though, I've noticed some inconsistencies in places and it wouldn't shock me if some stuff was wrong.

I hadn't heard about Kimo training in jj, and everything I've ever read said his black belt in TKD was imaginary. Gentry wrote, "Though just a streetfighter, Kimo was elevated to a third degree blackbelt in tae kwon do for the show. Aside from seeing the Gracies in Action tapes, Kimo was as green as they come, and trained with Joe Son for only a day."

This article talks about him a bit, too: http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/Kimo_Leopoldo.html

As for Abbott, he was a juco All-American at age 18. At 19, he was in a drunk-driving accident that messed up his leg and ended his wrestling career. I think he had quite a bit of practice in boxing.

[SPX]

I hadn't heard about Kimo training in jj, and everything I've ever read said his black belt in TKD was imaginary. Gentry wrote, "Though just a streetfighter, Kimo was elevated to a third degree blackbelt in tae kwon do for the show. Aside from seeing the Gracies in Action tapes, Kimo was as green as they come, and trained with Joe Son for only a day."

If that's true, then my mind is blown. I could believe that his TKD BB was bullshit, because he didn't look like any sort of TKD fighter. But he had only trained with Joe Son for a day? I feel like the world is collapsing around me.

At the very least, I figured he did have SOME sort of training. I remember he eventually released a video series through Panther Productions of his "fighting system."

An excerpt from vol. 3. Ya'll gotta check this out because it will crack you up.

[edman5555]

According to wiki Kimo is black belt in BJJ. Of course he could have gotten that after ufc 1. He did submit Sakuraba with an arm triangle choke 2 years after his fight with Royce though.

[MMA_scientist]

I didn't know that about Kimo. He looked like he had some awareness on the ground though, but was definitely very green. It is somewhat embarassing that it took Royce as long as it did to dispose of him.

SPX, that video is hilarious. Are we sure that Kimo is not trying to be funny? He can't be serious.