In the early days of the UFC, Tank Abbott was one of the most must-see fighters thanks to his incredibly heavy hands and a style that just screamed fan-friendly as he was always gunning to deliver a brutal knockout.
While Abbott’s initial UFC run only lasted for about three years, he did eventually return for a brief three-fight stint in 2003 where he suffered three straight losses before exiting the promotion again. But Abbott’s devastating knockout power and passion for brawling made him a very popular fighter and UFC color commentator believes he’s one of the throwbacks from that era who could still do damage in the octagon today.
During a recent episode of his podcast, Rogan was asked about fighters like Abbott and how they’d fare in today’s UFC and he argued that there’s certain styles that always find success no matter how much the sport has evolved.
“I think Tank Abbott would do really well,” Rogan said. “Because the heavyweight division is the most shallow division. Like would he do really well against the guys like Ciryl Gane or Tom Aspinall? Probably not but he didn’t do really well against guys like Maurice Smith. The real elite strikers of the day.
“But Tank Abbott was a f*cking huge man. He was an enormous, powerful guy who had ridiculous knockout power and he would brawl.”
Rogan compared Abbott to reigning UFC knockout king Derrick Lewis, who has never been regarded as the most technically sound or well-rounded fighter but his ability to separate an opponent from consciousness has kept him ranked in the top 15 for almost his entire career.
“I mean look at Derrick Lewis,” Rogan said. “Derrick Lewis has the most knockouts in the history of the UFC. He’s not the most highly skilled guy in the sport. He’s just a really, big powerful guy who has unbelievable knockout power. He’s still relatively successful even today. He has the most knockouts in the history of the heavyweight division.
“Tank Abbott would still f*ck a lot of people up in the lower ranks of the heavyweight division.”
Abbott isn’t alone when it comes to past heavyweights, who could potentially find success in today’s UFC.
Rogan believes many of the top wrestlers of that era would still find success because that’s a skill set that always serves as an advantage over possible opposition.
Add to that, the current UFC heavyweight roster isn’t exactly the deepest in the sport, which is why Rogan feels like some of the best of the best from the past could still do damage today.
“Dan Severn would still take a lot of people down and beat their asses because he was an elite wrestler,” Rogan said. “Those kinds of skills. Mark Coleman would take a lot of people down and beat their asses.
“Those skills that they have like the elite wrestlers and the really powerful punchers, they would always do well. “
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