Evan Tanner Found Dead

Fozzy

MMA thread or not?

I say "possibly", but it's not looking good

He went riding in the California desert last week and was reported missing on Friday. On Sunday his motorbike was found near a campsite and today a body was found near that. It hasn't been confirmed as being Evan, but like I said, it doesn't sound too good

Reports here:
http://www.tmz.com/2008/09/08/ufc-fighter-missing-body-found/
http://mmamania.com/2008/09/08/evan-tanner-dies-in-the-desert-seriously/

I really hope that it's a false alarm or something, because Evan was the first MMA fighter who I really took a liking to. It was sort of sad watching him in his last fight but it seemed like he was doing well outside the cage, getting his life back together

EDIT: MMAJunkie.com are reporting it as confirmed

RIP

Fozzy

UFC.com article on him: http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=14429

Evan Tanner 1971-2008
By Thomas Gerbasi

“I believe there are people out there that just have a warrior spirit, whether it’s fighting or something, they’ve got to do it. It’s hard to identify with me; it’s just something I do.”
---Evan Tanner, 2005

On what will unquestionably be remembered as one of mixed martial arts’ saddest days, former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner - beloved by fans for his fighting ability and by friends for his free spirit – has passed away at the age of 37.

Tanner, on a camping trip in the Palo Verde mountain area, was found by an Imperial County Sheriff’s Department Deputy on Monday. The cause of death is not known at this time. He had not answered friends’ text messages since last Wednesday, and was officially reported missing on Friday.

On his personal Spike TV web blog, Tanner discussed the trip and how a failure of equipment could be fatal, but in a subsequent blog, he downplayed such fears, writing, “It seems some MMA websites have reported on the story, posting up that I might die out in the desert, or that it might be my greatest opponent yet, etc. Come on guys. It's really common down in southern California to go out to the off road recreation areas in the desert about an hour away from LA and San Diego. So my plan is to go out to the desert, do some camping, ride the motorcycle, and shoot some guns. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. A lot of people do it. This isn't a version of "Into the Wild". I'm not going out into the desert with a pair of shorts and a bowie knife, to try to live off the land. I'm going fully geared up, and I'm planning on having some fun.”

His agent, John Hayner, says that Tanner was excited about the trip and in a good place physically and mentally before his untimely death.

“He was in a good state of mind the last time we spoke,” said Hayner. “Everyone that was around him, and even at the gym he was training at, also said he was in a great state of mind. Living in Oceanside (California), he really liked being on the beach. His house was across from the water, he was in beautiful surroundings.”

If one thing was ever clear about Tanner, it was that he loved life, the outdoors, and adventure.

“He was always planning on going on some sort of adventure,” said Hayner. “And he never needed the finer things or made a fuss about them. He just needed enough for gas, shelter, and training.”

A native of Amarillo, Texas, Tanner worked various jobs as a bouncer, a cable TV contractor, a framer building beach houses, a dishwasher, a baker, a ditch digger, and a slaughterhouse worker before stumbling on to mixed martial arts in 1997.

Over the next 11 years, fighting would be a major part of his life, to the tune of 42 professional bouts, but as he said earlier this year before what would be his final bout against Kendall Grove, he never considered himself a fighter.

“I always thought of myself as the poet, the writer, or the philosopher – I never thought of myself as a fighter,” he chuckled. “But here I am. I always had an idea of the flow of my life, but not exactly what I would be doing day to day. And fighting definitely wasn’t something I thought I’d be doing.”

But he was good at it – very good in fact. Over the course of his career, Tanner (34-8) scored wins over Paul Buentello, Heath Herring, Ikuhisa Minowa, Justin McCully, Elvis Sinosic, Phil Baroni (twice), and Robbie Lawler. His biggest win, however, came at UFC 51 on February 5, 2005, when he stopped David Terrell in the first round to win the UFC middleweight championship.

Tanner would lose the belt to Rich Franklin in his first defense four months later, but the fans never abandoned him, and he returned that admiration, both in person and through his internet blogs.

“I wanted to give something back to the fans and let them know that I’m just a regular guy,” said Tanner in early 2008. “Some of the guys forget that and get caught up in the lights, and I never want to forget that and that I’m one of the lucky ones that got a chance to get out there and do this. There are a lot of great athletes out there, a lot of great fighters that never got the chance. I’m one of the lucky ones that did, so writing the blog and telling life as it is helps me stay grounded and it gives me a way to connect with the fans and give them something back.”

His blogs were more than just fight talk and product advertisements though. Tanner spoke frankly about life and his struggles in and out of the Octagon. And when
he made his return to the UFC in 2008 after almost two years away, it was a triumph of the human spirit and an inspiration, regardless of whose hand was raised at the end of the fight.

“My thought was that I’m in a position where I’ve done some things and some people look up to me a little bit and maybe something in my story can help inspire them or motivate them to get through some things or do something better,” said Tanner before his return against Yushin Okami at UFC 82 in March. “If that’s the case and it helps anybody else out, then it’s worth me facing the embarrassment.”

He fell short in his final two bouts against Okami and Grove, but there was no keeping him down, and his off-time after the Grove bout was filled with more of his adventures, as well as participation in Harley-Davidson’s 105th anniversary celebration.

Sadly, there will be no more adventures, only memories of Evan Tanner.

“Evan was such a unique individual, and he was okay being an individual,” said Hayner. “He was okay with taking the path less traveled, and he often chose that harder path.”

It was simply who he was. Just read the words he spoke to me before I wished him luck for his fight against Grove in June.

“Everything’s been about the journey,” he said. “I never really set out with goals for fighting; it’s been about the adventure along the way. When you’re on your death bed, it’s those stories, those little adventures that are going to be the things that you remember. It’s not so much getting there, but how you got there.”

And he did it his way.

Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite, forever orbiting
I knew all the rules, but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed
---Eddie Vedder, “Guaranteed”. The song playing on Evan Tanner’s myspace page.

Rest in Peace, Evan.

Vince135792003

RIP Evan Tanner.

Skull

A very special and interesting man. A great loss.

dlofnep

Oh man, Evan had a shakey last few years. He came across as a great guy. A tragic loss for MMA. Can't believe he's dead.

dunkamania

RIP

Mossy Monk

RIP

Charlie3dan

A great loss to MMA. RIP

Clover

RIP

mirwillbeback

My original favourite fighter, he taught himself his early skills from a book. And boy could he put on a triangle choke. Never got to meet him when I went to see UFC 50 as he seemed to shy away from the meet and greets. He had his demons over the last few years.
Tragic. RIP.

Judomad

sad loss, will be missed in MMA

ckarsenal

RIP

dave80

RIP

hardCopy

Sad, RIP

mmaireland.com

RIP.

Dragan

That's just depressing. One of my favourite fighters and characters in MMA.

RIP

burtyburr

Thats a downer. I was only just checking out pics of him training with Forrest before the Rampage fight.

Frank Bullitt

Terrible stuff.

R.I.P

fatal

He was certainly one of the stand out guys of MMA,whether it was because of his fighting or his personality

RIP Tanner-a true warrior

bing3

Man that sucks. In a sport full of overbearing personalities Evan always stood out with his free-spirited and intelligent manner. A real gentleman of the game.
RIP

Nothingcompares

RIP Evan Tanner

Valmont

His quirky underdog style made me a huge fan, especially when he battered Dave Terrell. RIP

rovert

Very interesting character worthy of a book or a film.

RIP

stevemc01

Whether he won or lost Tanner always brought the fight and didnt back down. RIP

bjj-fighter

Damn that sucks.Evan Tanner was always a great figure in MMA

Pride Fighter

RIP

RNCFAN

That's just terrible news man

Tanner was the ****ing Man.

mikeruurds

RIP Evan. I really enjoyed watching him fight.

Fozzy

The preliminary reports from the coroner say that he died of heat exposure, two miles from his campsite where he had run out of water and petrol. The temperature was over 44 degrees celsius in that area at the weekend. There's conflicting reports as to whether he was 50 or 100 miles from the nearest town, although I guess at that sort of distance it doesn't make much difference

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090901590.html

I'd been keeping up with his blog on Spike.com every couple of weeks or so, he was a very interesting guy and it was cool to see someone with the sort of outlook and attitude towards life that he had. It's all very sad

rovert

FREE TODAY! Sept. 9 Wrestling Observer Radio: Evan Tanner, Raw, Flair trouble, more
It's our twice-monthly FREE edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. Join Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer as they discuss the sad death of former UFC Champion Evan Tanner, another notable MMA name in poor health, the Ric Flair incident with his daughter that left him bloodied, Monday night's Raw, where they may be heading for the PPV, plus tons of mailbag questions including favorite and least favorite issues to write.
http://media002.f4wonline.com/free/090908wo.mp3

I thought I should post this Dave Meltzer talked about his life and death late last night at the top of this show and really somes up Evan's life. Genuinely good stuff.

Fozzy

rovert wrote: »

FREE TODAY! Sept. 9 Wrestling Observer Radio: Evan Tanner, Raw, Flair trouble, more
It's our twice-monthly FREE edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. Join Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer as they discuss the sad death of former UFC Champion Evan Tanner, another notable MMA name in poor health, the Ric Flair incident with his daughter that left him bloodied, Monday night's Raw, where they may be heading for the PPV, plus tons of mailbag questions including favorite and least favorite issues to write.
http://media002.f4wonline.com/free/090908wo.mp3

I thought I should post this Dave Meltzer talked about his life and death late last night at the top of this show and really somes up Evan's life. Genuinely good stuff.

Yeah, I listened to that earlier, it was a very good piece I thought

JohnMc1

RIP

rovert

Fozzy wrote: »

Yeah, I listened to that earlier, it was a very good piece I thought

Yep, I hope Dave gives him the full obituary treatment. It'll be an amazing read I think.

RAMPAGE1

The world has lost a true warrior Rest in Peace

rovert

Dave's bio on Tanner was very informative, what an interesting person. His relationship with Alcohol was very strange too.

Off topic the new details in the Observer about Couture are jaw dropping.

fatal

rovert wrote: »

Dave's bio on Tanner was very informative, what an interesting person. His relationship with Alcohol was very strange too.

Off topic the new details in the Observer about Couture are jaw dropping.

got a link?

rovert

fatal wrote: »

got a link?

http://www.f4wonline.com/

But you have to pay for it, Im sure it will leak elsewhere soon. There was a reason why the Randy & Brock press conference was delayed.

Nothingcompares

rovert i think your comments are more suited to the pro wrestling forum.

rovert

Nothingcompares wrote: »

rovert i think your comments are more suited to the pro wrestling forum.

???

Im talking about MMA & MMA fighters here, the Wrestling Observer is 50/50 Pro Wrestling & MMA and was named prior to the emergance of MMA. Dave was one of the first reporters of any kind to report on UFC & Pancrase etc. Dana is probably more influenced by Dave than any other reporter.

Nothingcompares

more specifically, this nonsense,

"really great story about to break but i can't tell you about it, you'll have to tune into Monday night raw to find out for yourself, great stuff though..."

having said that, maybe it's just me who thinks your posts are a little prowrestlingish

chopperbyrne

Nothingcompares wrote: »

more specifically, this nonsense,

"really great story about to break but i can't tell you about it, you'll have to tune into Monday night raw to find out for yourself, great stuff though..."

having said that, maybe it's just me who thinks your posts are a little prowrestlingish

I think it's just you. He linked to the wrestling observer site to show that there was a story from a well respected journalist (who was one of the first to seriously cover MMA) on Tanner.

A very sad loss for all of mixed martial arts.

rovert

Someone has put a 2 part interview with Evan, it is very interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBwjaPyqxYc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y0LadiZdOA

Dragan

Nothingcompares wrote: »

rovert i think your comments are more suited to the pro wrestling forum.

We may be reaching a compromise on this issue.



We'll keep you updated.

cowzerp

rip, you'll be missed.

rovert

Havent been posting cos im doing exams but i woke up to read about my daily MMA goings on the other morning and I read about Tanner. I have to say, i always find it strange when the death of someone we have never met gets to you but I genuinely was gutted. I wasn't entirely surprised though. i remember reading about 5 weeks ago about his plans and it sounded dodgy to me. I followed his blogs regularly and he was one of the most interesting characters I've come across and thats in life, not just MMA. Really fascinating and thought provoking individual. He died aged 37 but I guarantee he lived more in those 37 years than an awful lot of people do who live to the heights of old age.

He was also one of my favourite fighters, a real master of the clinch and his ground game while unorthodox was excellent. I remember going apesh1t when he beat Terrell and getting strange looks off my mates for being so ecstatic about it.

Im sad that he's gone as I wont have any more thought provoking blogs to read but it was, for him, a somewhat appropriate way to go given his lifestyle.

RIP Evan - Believe in the Power of One.

rovert wrote: »

Off topic the new details in the Observer about Couture are jaw dropping.

No chance of actually posting what they are no? generally thats how its done or we dont mention things.

Dragan wrote:

We may be reaching a compromise on this issue.



We'll keep you updated.

for the love of God PLEASE tell me you are not merging a forum for MMA and pro wrestling?

Dragan

Deleted User wrote: »

for the love of God PLEASE tell me you are not merging a forum for MMA and pro wrestling?

I'm upset you would even think that.

rovert

Deleted User wrote: »

No chance of actually posting what they are no? generally thats how its done or we dont mention things.

It was an off topic aside.

Deleted User wrote: »

for the love of God PLEASE tell me you are not merging a forum for MMA and pro wrestling?

When Brock wins MMA & Wrestling will merge full stop.

Dragan

This is getting very off topic.

Back to thoughts of Evan for those who would like to.

Thats it.

Those videos are fascinating. I've been telling non-MMA fan mates of mine to read his blogs, i dont think you have to be an MMA fan to appreciate the depth of his philosophies.


The saddest line is in the second video when he says "i'd like to teach that to my children"


I wish he'd written a philosophy book.