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Four years after his most recent fight, former UFC heavyweight title challenger David "Tank" Abbott is returning to the cage.
The 47-year-old Californian will fight 43-year-old Ruben Villareal at a King of the Cage event in April. Abbott (10-14) vs. Villareal (20-25) will be the main event of the card and will fight for the promotion's "superfight" title.
"King of the Cage: Fighting Legends" takes place April 13 at Gold Country Casino in Oroville, Calif. Promotion officials recently announced the card and main event. The card is scheduled for a broadcast on MavTV, which is available from select cable and satellite providers.
"Tank Abbott basically built the sport of MMA and brought it into the mainstream when he started fighting in the mid-90s," King of the Cage owner Terry Trebilcock Jr. stated. "There is no true MMA fan in the world who doesn't know who Tank Abbott is, and we're thrilled that he has picked King of the Cage to resume his fighting career when he could have fought in any event in the world."
Abbott most recently fought in February 2009, knocking out Mike Bourke in 29 seconds. That win snapped a four-fight skid for "Tank," who had been stopped by Hidehiko Yoshida in PRIDE, Paul Buentello in Strikeforce, Gary Turner in Cage Rage and Kimbo Slice in EliteXC, all in the first round.
Abbott fought in the UFC early in his career, fighting in tournaments at UFC 6 and UFC 11. He also fought the likes of Vitor Belfort at UFC 13 and Maurice Smith at UFC 15, the latter for the UFC heavyweight title – a loss a little more than 8 minutes into the fight when he submitted, unable to continue.
After losing to Pedro Rizzo in 1998, Abbott left the sport for a while to head to the pro wrestling world. But he returned to the UFC in 2003 and lost three straight fights – also all first-round stoppages. Frank Mir submitted him in 46 seconds at UFC 41, Kimo Leopoldo stopped him in less than 2 minutes at UFC 43 and Wesley Correira earned a TKO against him at UFC 45.
Abbott avenged that loss a year and a half later in a fight for Rumble on the Rock in Hawaii, but dating back 10 years, Abbott is just 2-7. Still, he remains a veritable legend in the sport, despite his record. In 24 fights, he has only gone to three decisions. His time off of late has been devoted to writing a trilogy of MMA-themed novels, the first of which has been released with the second and third installments set to come out later this year.
