Tank Abbott vs. Mike Bourke Dropped From WARGODS (...or is it?)

A heavyweight co-main attraction between David “Tank” Abbott and Mike Bourke has been scratched from Friday’s Wargods “Valentine’s Eve Massacre” at the Selland Arena in Fresno, Calif., confirmed State Athletic Commission Assistant Executive Director Bill Douglas late Thursday.
However, efforts are still afoot to resurrect the fight, said a rep for the promotion.
Abbott (9-14) and Bourke (8-11-1) both reported to the event’s official weigh-ins on Thursday, only to be turned away by CSAC officials who said the promotion had cancelled the bout themselves almost a week before.
“Tank Abbott was never even considered [on the card Thursday] because as of five days ago, the promotion conveyed to us that he was completely off the show,” Douglas told Sherdog.com late Thursday.
So to get this straight, the promotion axed the fight a week earlier and had the fighters show up at the weigh-in anyway. Well, that isn't the full story according to one WARGODS exec:
“We took the fight off the card and were going to replace it with our current heavyweight champion Lavar Johnson, who was approved to fight Ruben ‘Warpath’ Villareal,” said the executive.
...
The executive said he put the fight back on the roster on Tuesday, but the commission employee assigned to supervise the event was on vacation and couldn’t accept the request.
Yes, the man assigned to oversee this show...was not available to oversee the show.
From the article the promotion sounds confident that the fight will happen, the CSAC sounds pretty confident that it won't, and perhaps most telling is the fact that Tank told Sherdog that the fight is off. So the show now appears to have only 8 fights compared to the 13 they originally submitted and they are trying to scramble to pull off some last minute miracles.
In addition to their Hail Mary attempts to put Abbott/Bourke back on the card they submitted a fight featuring Tonya Evinger last night that is awaiting CSAC approval. No word on who the opponent is or if the CSAC will approve such a late card addition, but Evenger would be the most legitimate fighter on the show if they can pull it off.
Whatever happens make sure to check back in for our live coverage of the WARGODS webstream at 9:30pm EST.
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Either that...
or “One of Tank/Ken won’t actually fight”
Either one wins the cash. And considering about 15 people on this site alone went with one of them won’t fight I think everyone is splitting the loot.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 13, 2009 9:54 AM EST up reply actions
Brent why are you planning on wasting your time blogging this…even YAMMA was more organized
by The Bronzeville Bully on Feb 13, 2009 9:54 AM EST reply actions
Well...
A) It’s the biggest show of the night and comments on this and other blogs seem to point to a morbid interest in the show.
B) YAMMA had more card replacements than any other show I can remember. Most being injuries or arrests I can’t really blame them…but Mo Smith got pulled because he was ill…Pat Smith was almost pulled because he was arrested but the charges were reduced to misdemeanor, Don Frye got yanked…etc
Also, I do consider it relevant to show the impact of disorganization by a promotion coupled with the CSAC’s boneheaded moves like having someone oversee an event that they won’t be around for. As I pointed out earlier in the other WARGODS thread…the cheapest tickets for this show were $30…I don’t think the kind of people that would pay money to watch this show are the kind of people that are going to react very kindly when this fight isn’t on the card.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 13, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions
Also...
when we overlook these potential disaster cards we end up missing “news stories” like the riot at Strikebox which has now carried over into the UFC sanctioning. Everyone knew Strikebox was a disaster waiting to happen and when it DID end up happening people generally weren’t covering it.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 13, 2009 10:19 AM EST up reply actions
^This
I should be very clear that I love me some car crash MMA
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 13, 2009 10:26 AM EST up reply actions
I have to say, your instincts on this one were spot on.
by Luke Thomas on Feb 13, 2009 10:45 AM EST up reply actions
I legitimately anticipate...
an “incident” with the crowd when it is announced Tank isn’t fighting. And if Shamrock goes off the card also I’d be amazed if there isn’t another “chair throwing” near riot.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 13, 2009 11:23 AM EST up reply actions
Damn...
…my morbid curiosity was wondering if Ken or Tank would lose to some no-name scrubs and further ruin their legacy. I thought Tank would more likely be the 1 of the 2 to lose, too.
Still lookin forward to Mr. Abbott’s 600+ page book talking about all his street fights, if it ever gets published that is.
Brent calls it “Car Crash MMA”… I call it “Cluster F MMA”.
Keep Swillin',
Bruz
from warpaths myspace bulletin:
opponent out and they are scrambling to get me another one. I sign the contract and send it back immediately for War Gods and then the next morning my manager gets a call saying that my opponent was pulled out by his coach? Then the same coach pulls out another one of his fighters? Sounds fishy to me. So then I get told Mike Kyle is a possibility, I drive down to weigh ins, no hotel room and still no opponent.
Do I have the right to feel a lot of doubt at this point? What do you think?
According to Sherdog......FIGHT IS BACK ON !!!!!
David “Tank” Abbott will step back into the cage on Friday after all.
Abbott will face Mike Bourke in a heavyweight co-main attraction for Wargods "Valentine’s Eve Massacre" at the Selland Arena in Fresno, Calif., confirmed a State Athletic Commission rep late Friday
YES YES YES!
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 13, 2009 8:19 PM EST up reply actions

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