Evan Tanner

Evan Tanner (born February 11, 1971 in Amarillo , † September 8, 2008 in Palo Verde ) was an American mixed martial arts fighter . He was the heavyweight title holder of the Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation and middleweight champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship . Of the 40 fights in his career, he won 32 and lost eight.

Career

Beginnings and USWF titles

Evan Tanner began during his time at the Caprock High School in Amarillo with the rings and was two-time State Champion. He had his first professional MMA fight on April 12, 1997 in his hometown at a USWF tournament . There he defeated Mike Kennedy, Gary Nabors and Paul Buentello one after the other and thereby won the tournament. On October 18, there was a heavyweight title fight against Heath Herring , in which Tanner was able to defeat his opponent and became champion. He then took part in an event organized by PSDA in November , where he first won twice and then met again with Herring, where Tanner was defeated by a rear naked choke and thus suffered the first defeat of his career.

In March 1998 Tanner was able to successfully defend his USWF title against Rusty Totty . He achieved two victories at the Gladiators tournament in April. After another title defense in June against Tony Castillo, he began to compete at events of the Japanese organizer Pancrase . By December he had five victorious fights there and in between another USWF title defense against Gene Lydick.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Evan Tanner made his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 8, 1999 at UFC 18 , where he defeated his opponent with a rear naked choke. This was followed by a TKO via Valeri Ignatov at UFC 19 in March. Before his next UFC fight, he defended his USWF title against Mike Cizek, Vinny Nixon, Raoul Romero and Travis Fulton and suffered his second loss at a Pancrase event against Leon Dijk. In December 2000 there was a fight against Lance Gibson at UFC 29 , which Tanner won through TKO. Then a title fight against the light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was scheduled on February 23, 2001 at UFC 30 , in which Tanner went KO after half a minute.

His next three UFC fights were more successful. He forced Homer Moore to surrender at UFC 34 in November , defeated Elvis Sinosic in March 2002 at UFC 36 by TKO and then beat Chris Haseman on points at UFC 38 in July . In February 2003, he defeated Shannon Ritch with a triangle choke at a Full Contact Fighting Federation event . At UFC 42 on April 25, Evan Tanner met Rich Franklin and was defeated by TKO in the first round.

Change to UFC middleweight class and title win

After his loss to Franklin, Tanner decided to switch to the middleweight division of the UFC . There he defeated Phil Baroni twice , at UFC 45 in November 2003 by TKO and at UFC 48 in June 2004 on points. This was followed by a victory in October at UFC 50 against Robbie Lawler using a triangle choke. On February 5, 2005, he fought at UFC 51 against David Terrell for the middleweight title. Evan Tanner dominated the fight, knocking Terrell out in the first round. This made him the middleweight champion of the UFC . For his first title defense he had to face his former conqueror Rick Franklin. The fight at UFC 53 in June was canceled in the fourth round by the ring doctor and Franklin was declared the winner and new champion. With that, Tanner also lost the chance to coach the second season of the reality TV series The Ultimate Fighter .

After losing the title

After losing the title fight, Tanner also lost his next fight, against David Loiseau at Ultimate Fight Night 2 in October 2005. In April 2006 at UFC 59, he forced Justin Levens to give up. He then took a two year hiatus from fighting while traveling around on his Harley-Davidson and doing odd jobs. During this time he drank excessive amounts of alcohol. In March 2008 he made his comeback at UFC 82 against Yushin Okami and was knocked out by a knee hit in the second round. In the final event of The Ultimate Fighter 7 , on June 21, 2008, he faced Kendall Grove and lost on points.

On September 3rd, Evan Tanner went on a survival trip to the desert of Imperial County . He was found dead on September 8th. He had died from the effects of the heat.

Web links

• Evan Tanner in the database of Sherdog (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ onceiwasachampion.com - About The Project Accessed on 8 April 2011th
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Evan Tanner in the Sherdog database , accessed on April 8, 2011.
3. ↑ ^{a b} amarillo.com - Evan Loyd Tanner ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} signonsandiego.com - Death in the desert.Retrieved April 8, 2011.
5. ↑ bleacherreport.com - UFC 128: Ranking the 25 Most Intriguing 205-Pound Title Fights in UFC History: 25. Tito Ortiz vs. Evan Tanner. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
6. ↑ spike.com - A Tribute to Evan Tanner  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Retrieved April 8, 2011.