EliteXC Street Certified: Kimbo vs Tank Final Thoughts

Jim Murphy - February 16th, 2008 .

Many casual MMA fans—at least here in the US—have a strange perspective on self proclaimed “street fighter” Tank Abbott. More specifically, they have the erroneous concept that he’s somehow one of the baddest dudes on the planet. It’s similar to how the casual Mike Tyson fan insists that in his prime “Iron Mike” could have whipped Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis at the same time with one hand tied behind his back. You’d be amazed how much time I spend responding to suggestions that Ali would fall victim to a early Tyson KO (despite never being KO’d in his entire career) or that “The Greatest” never tasted power like “Iron Mike’s” (ignoring the names Liston, Shavers, Foreman and Frazier on Ali’s resume). Ever since the Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott fight was first proposed last June I’ve heard all sorts of crazy talk suggesting that Kimbo is somehow in over his head here. How casual fans could react with a yawn when Kimbo stopped a legit former world’s heavyweight boxing champion in Ray Mercer in just over a minute, but think he’s “stepping up in class” with Tank Abbott is beyond me.

When evaluating a fighter for handicapping purposes there’s several things I consider including level of opposition throughout ones career, relative success and failure against similar types and quality of opposition, and the specific matchup at hand. I place a heavy emphasis on recent form as manifest in the won/loss record and in a more objective assessment of how a fighter is progressing—or regressing—in the performance of his craft. These criteria are the “doses of reality” I’ve been trying to give the Tank Abbott fans who suggest that his status as a +300 (BodogLife.com) underdog is the bookmaker’s gift of the century.

First of all, lets give Tank a little bit of credit: he’s been in with a much better class of opponent than Kimbo including Oleg Taktarov, Don Frye, Dan Severn, Vitor Belfort and Pedro Rizzo. Now the bad news—he’s a combined 0-5 against these top tier fighters with none making it out of the first round. More significantly, his last bout against a top tier fighter (with the notable exception of a 2005 first round loss to Hidehiko Yoshida) was in 1998, or nearly a decade ago. That era—late 1997 to 1998—was also significant as it was the last time Abbott won back-to-back fights.

Tank hung up the gloves after his 1998 loss to Rizzo before returning at UFC 41 in 2/2003 where he lost to Frank Mir by submission at :45 of the first round. Including the Mir loss, none of his 7 “comeback” fights have made it out of the first round—but not in a good way. Tank has lost 6 of his 7 fights since 1993 by first round submission or KO/TKO. His lone win in this decade was a 1st round KO of Wesley “Cabbage” Correira (who’s 2-5 in his L7 fights including a loss to “Butterbean”). The fact that Tank was revenging a loss in an earlier matchup with “Cabbage” makes the win even less impressive.

Throw in Kimbo’s physical advantages—he’s taller and in clearly better shape, the age differential (Kimbo is 9 years younger), and the difference in the two fighters’ dedication to training (Kimbo trains with MMA legend Bas Rutten and is clearly more “cut” than in his street fighting days; its not apparent if Tank trains at all since he’s bragged in the past that he doesn’t) and this matchup becomes even more one sided.

The bottom line is that the only reason Tank Abbott is here is that he’s got the name recognition to sell tickets. Aside from his edge in experience, he may actually be a step *down* in class from Kimbo’s opponent in his EliteXC debut, Bo Cantrell. Cantrell lasted :19 seconds and this fight will likely be as one-sided. I’ll give Tank the benefit of the doubt and say that he makes it out of the first minute of the fight, but he won’t make it out of the first round.

PREDICTION: KIMBO SLICE BY 1ST ROUND KO/TKO (See Bodog for the latest odds)

From a wagering standpoint, its hard to justify laying the current -441 on Kimbo. I got my clients on Kimbo early when he was at -300, but with a couple of solid dogs on the card there’s better value elsewhere. On the other hand, I definitely can’t make a case for taking the underdog here.

If you’re not able to watch the event live you can follow the round by round coverage online at Prophet Fighting. The broadcast begins at 10 PM Eastern Standard Time and we’ll pick up the round by round coverage at that time. Check out Bodog and Bookmaker for the latest odds for this card.

Up next UFC 82 and Strikeforce ‘Shamrock vs. Cung Le’.

Check out part one of this weeks MMA picks at MMA Betting: EliteXC Preview and Picks.

 

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10 comments | Add One

1. 1 ProphetFighting » Kimbo v. Tank Elite XC preview at BetWWX - 02/16/2008 at 9:39 am

    

   [...] EliteXC Street Certified: Kimbo vs Tank Final Thoughts @ BetWWX [...]

    

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2. 2 MMA Betting: EliteXC Preview and Picks | Sports Betting Tips and Betting Advice - 02/16/2008 at 9:41 am

    

   [...] Click here for my final thoughts on the Kimbo vs Tank matchup. [...]

    

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3. 3 MMA Betting: Jim’s Saturday Night EliteXC Plays Part 2 | Sports Betting Tips and Betting Advice - 02/16/2008 at 1:00 pm

    

   [...] Click here for my final thoughts on the Kimbo vs Tank matchup. [...]

    

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4. 4 Jim Murphy - 02/17/2008 at 8:14 am

    

   We had some cable TV issues tonight and I wasn’t able to do a live round by round. This one went just like I drew it up–Kimbo destroys Tank by KO at :43 of round #1.

    

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5. 5 BetWWX - 02/17/2008 at 12:07 pm

    

   ELITEXC RESULTS AND FINAL ODDS

   TANK ABBOTT VS. KIMBO SLICE (-450)
   Kimbo Slice def. Tank Abbott via knockout (strikes) — Round 1, 0:43.

   RICCO RODRIGUEZ VS. ANTONIO SILVA (-305)
   Antonio Silva def. Ricco Rodriguez via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28).

   KYLE NOKE (-130) VS. SCOTT SMITH
   Scott Smith def. Kyle Noke via KO (punch) — Round 1, 0:07.

   EDSON BERTO VS. YVES EDWARDS (-270)
   Yves Edwards def. Edson Berto via KO (knee) — Round 1, 4:56.

   BRETT ROGERS (+175) VS. JAMES THOMPSON
   Brett Rogers def. James Thompson via knockout (strikes) — Round 1, 2:24.

   JOHN DOYLE VS. RAFAEL FEIJO
   Rafael Feijao def. John Doyle via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 2:17.

   YOSMANY CABEZAS VS. JON KIRK
   Yosmany Cabezas def. John Kirk via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 2, 0:58.

   DAVE HERMAN VS. MARIO RINALDI
   Dave Herman def. Mario Rinaldi via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 0:33.

   ERIC BRADLEY VS. MIKEY GOMEZ
   Eric Bradley def. Mikey Gomez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

   JIRKA HLAVATY VS. MOYSES GABIN
   Moyses Gabin def. Jirka Hlavaty via TKO (cut) —Round 1, 2:32

    

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6. 6 tony - 05/29/2008 at 9:37 am

    

   comon kimbo slice used illegal strikes against abbot, kimbo is a farce.. get that bum out of mma already

    

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7. 7 kevin - 05/29/2008 at 7:33 pm

    

   Kimbo is the real deal, cant wait for him to beat up Thompson.

    

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8. 8 Kimbo fight was a JOKE - 06/1/2008 at 4:45 am

    

   AT age 34 i seriously doubt if you can train an old dog “kimbo” MMA skills!!! After watching the 5/31/08 fight i feel like i wasted a half hour of my life.

   Kimbo aint worth s**t…go back to street fighting and leave the real fighting to the professional MMA fighters. XC sucks, never watching again.

    

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9. 9 dirk digger - 06/1/2008 at 4:46 am

    

   The Kimbo Slice fight on 5/31/08 was a joke. Please, all the hype for what? Now that everyone see’s that the Kimbo Slice “it” factor is over…the hype is dead. He aint Sh$t. Dana White was right, i can think of a dozen UFC fighters that could submit Kimbo in the first round….what a joke. The XC sucks too!!!! Nice Refs… i wouldnt buy a Kimbo shirt to wipe my a$$.

   KIMBO SUCKS—move on!

    

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10. 10 kevin - 06/1/2008 at 10:47 am

     

    His stand up didn’t look all that good tonight even though he landed about 4 flush shots he couldn’t knock him out.

     

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