Biography Evan Tanner was born on February 11, 1971 in Amarillo, Texas. Tanner wrestled for the first time in his sophomore year at Caprock High School, and eventually won the state championshihp during both his junior and senior year. He went on to attend college, but dropped out because he felt he was not recieving the education he was looking for.
Mixed Martial Arts Career Beginning Tanner started fighting MMA in 1997 after his friends convinced him to enter a local tournament run by the Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation. In one night, Tanner won three fights, including a victory against future UFC Heavyweight Champion Paul Buentello, and went on to win the tournament. After his succes at local tournaments, Tanner taught himself grappling and submission techniques by watching Gracie Jiu-Jitsu home videos and continued winning local tournaments before traveling to Japan to compete in the Pancrase organization. He won five fights in Japan along with another USWF tournament and was eventually asked to join the UFC.
UFC Tanner made his UFC debut as a Light Heavyweight in 1999 at UFC 18, submitting Darrell Gholar in the first round. After defeating Gholar, Tanner fought against Valerie Ignatov in UFC 19 and Lance Gibson in UFC 29, winning both fights by TKO. After accumulating a 2-0 UFC record, and a 22-2 overall record, Tanner was awarded with a title fight against then Light Heavyweight Champion, Tito Ortiz. However, Tanner was knocked out in the first 32 seconds after being slammed to the ground by Ortiz.
Tanner after winning the UFC Middleweight Championship Devastated by the loss to Ortiz, Tanner trained harder, and won three fights in a row against Homer Moore (UFC 34), Elvis Sinosic (UFC 36) and Chris Hasseman (UFC 38). After loosing to Rich Franklin at UFC 42 by TKO in the first round, Tanner decided to drop weight classes and moved to the Middleweight division.
Upon his move to Middleweight, he won against Phil Baroni in both UFC 45 and UFC 48, and against Robbie Lawler in UFC 50. Because of his success in the Middleweight division, Tanner was given a chance to win the vacant UFC Middleweight Champion title against David Terrell at UFC 51. After loosing his mouthpiece early and almost being submitted, Tanner eventually brought the game to the ground, and won by TKO. Tanner was now the UFC Middleweight Champion.
Tanner was granted the right to avenge his loss to Rich Franklin in UFC 42 by facing him again at UFC 53, his first fight as UFC Middleweight Champion. Despite knocking Franklin down in the first round, Tanner lost the fight when the ringside doctor stopped the fight. Tanner lost not only his Middleweight title, but also becoming a coach in The Ultimate Fighter 2, where Franklin became the host. Tanner also lost his next fight at Ultimate Fight Night 2 against David Loiseau by TKO. In what would end up becoming the last win of his career, Tanner defeated Justin Levens by submission at UFC 59.
After the fight, Tanner decided to take a two year break where he opened up his own training camp at his house. During that time off, however, Tanner developed alcohol abuse, but eventually came over it and made his return to the UFC in March of 2008 at UFC 82, lossing to Yushin Okami by KO. In his last fight, Tanner lost to Kendall Grove by split decision at the Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale. After the fight Tanner wondered if two years of alcohol abuse had damaged his body past the point where he could still repeated announced he would retire after finishing his contract with the UFC. Tanner's final MMA record was 32-8.
Death In his second-to-last entry on his Spike TV blog, Tanner wrote:
I'm hoping that very soon I'll be sitting out in the quiet of the desert beneath a deep blue midnight sky, listening to the calm desert breeze. The idea going into the desert came to me soon after I moved to Oceanside. It was motivated by my friend Sara's talk of treasure hunting and lost gold, and my own insatiable appetite for adventure and exploration. I began to imagine what might be found in the deep reaches of the untracked desert. It became an obsession of sorts. Suspicions have risen over Tanner's death. On September 3, 2008, Tanner rode out on his newly purchased dirt bike to go camping at Clapp Springs in Brawley, California. That afternoon, Tanner text messaged his friends that his bike had run out of gas in the middle of the desert and he planned on walking back to camp. He told his friend that if they had not heard from him by 8:00 am on September 5, to contact authorities. Temperatures got as high as 118° during those two days. After Tanner stopped responding to text messages, Tanner's friends called for help.
On September 6, a unit of SAR Marines found Tanner's planned campsite. At the campsite, they found Tanner's dirt bike, "additional provisions of water," and a trail of footprints left by Tanner. On September 8, Marines found Tanner's body approximately 1.2 miles away from the campsite at 12:33 pm. Near Tanner was an empty water bottle taken from his supply of water at the campsite. A coroner determined Tanner's time of death to be between 9:00 pm on September 4 and 7:00 am on September 5. Evan Tanner was 37.
Controversy Over Death Some people believed Tanner planned his death. His Myspace profile featured the song "Guarenteed" from the movie "Into the Wild," where a man lives in the wilderness for nine months to find spirutal peace and eventually dies. His second-to-last blog post also foreshadowed the events leading up to his death:
"Treasure" doesn't necessarily refer to something material. I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life. Reports of Tanner arriving and then leaving his planed camp site have also made people suspicious of Tanner's true intentions in the desert. Tanner's friends and family insist that Tanner did not plan his death.
Post-death
Tanner has been remembered fondly in death as a pinoeer in MMA, and one of the first fighters to die since the sport gained it's popularity.
A documentary about Tanner's life, travels and philosophy was made by Tapout Films, and premiered in competition at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2011.
MMA Record Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Notes Loss 32-8 Kendall Grove Decision (split) The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale June 21, 2008 3 5:00 Loss 32-7 Yushin Okami KO (knee) UFC 82 March 1, 2008 2 3:00 Win 32-6 Justin Levens Submission (triangle choke) UFC 59 April 15, 2006 1 3:14 Loss 31-6 David Loiseau TKO (cuts) UFC Ultimate Fight Night 2 October3,2005 2 4:15 Loss 31-5 Rich Franklin TKO (doctor stoppage) UFC 53 June 4, 2005 4 3:25 Lost UFC Middleweight Championship Win 31-4 David Terrell TKO (punches) UFC 51 February 5, 2005 1 4:35 Won vacant UFC Middleweight Championship Win 30-4 Robbie Lawler Submission (triangle choke) UFC 50 October 22, 2004 1 2:22 Win 29-4 Phil Baroni Decision (unanimous) UFC 48 June 19, 2004 3 5:00 Win 28-4 Phil Baroni TKO (punches) UFC 45 November 21, 2003 1 4:42 Drops to 185 lbs. Loss 27-4 Rich Franklin TKO (punches) UFC 42 April 25, 2003 1 2:40 Win 27-3 Shannon Ritch Submission (triangle choke) FCFF - Fighting Against Cancer February 15, 2003 1 2:19 Win 26-3 Chris Haseman Decision (unanimous) UFC 38 July 13, 2002 3 5:00 Win 25-3 Elvis Sinosic TKO (cut) UFC 36 March 22, 2002 1 2:06 Win 24-3 Homer Moore Submission (armbar) UFC 34 November 2, 2001 2 0:55 Loss 23-3 Tito Ortiz KO (slam) UFC 30 February 23, 2001 1 0:32 For UFC Light Heavyweight Championship Win 23-2 Lance Gibson TKO (punches and elbows) UFC 29 December 16, 2000 1 4:48 Win 22-2 Travis Fulton Submission (triangle choke) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 18 November 25, 2000 1 4:38 Defended USWF Heavyweight Title Win 21-2 Raoul Romero TKO (punches) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 17 July 17, 2000 1 6:59 Defended USWF Heavyweight Title Win 20-2 Vinny Nixon Submission (keylock) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 14 April 24, 1999 1 1:07 Defended USWF Heavyweight Title Loss 19-2 Leon Dijk TKO (knees and palm strikes) Pancrase: Breakthrough 4 April 18, 1999 1 11:39 Win 19-1 Mike Cizek Submission (punches) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 13 March 20, 1999 1 2:06 Defended USWF Heavyweight Title Win 18-1 Valeri Ignatov TKO (elbows) UFC 19 March 5, 1999 1 2:58 Win 17-1 Darrel Gholar Submission (rear naked choke) UFC 18 January 8, 1999 1 7:57 Win 16-1 Ryushi Yanagisawa Submission (arm-triangle choke) Pancrase: Advance 12 December 19, 1998 1 2:24 Win 15-1 Gene Lydick Submission (rear naked choke) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 12 October 24, 1998 1 4:15 Defended USWF Heavyweight Title Win 14-1 Kiuma Kunioku Decision (lost points) Pancrase 1998: Anniversary Show September 14, 1998 1 20:00 Win 13-1 Justin McCully Submission (kimura) Pancrase 1998 Neo-Blood Tournament, Round 2 July 26, 1998 1 5:07 Win 12-1 Kousei Kubota Submission (arm-triangle choke) Pancrase 1998 Neo-Blood Tournament, Round 1 July 7, 1998 1 2:23 Win 11-1 Ikuhisa Minowa Submission (arm-triangle choke) Pancrase 1998 Neo-Blood Tournament, Round 1 July 7, 1998 1 4:05 Win 10-1 Tony Castillo TKO (knees) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 9 June 20, 1998 1 4:06 Defended USWF Heavyweight Title Win 9-1 Dennis Reed Submission (triangle choke) Gladiators 2 April 18, 1998 1 1:20 Win 8-1 Wade Kroeze TKO (knees) Gladiators 2 April 18, 1998 1 1:00 Win 7-1 Rusty Totty Submission (arm-triangle choke) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 8 March 28, 1998 1 1:36 Defended USWF Heavyweight Title Loss 6-1 Heath Herring Submission (rear naked choke) PSDA November 22, 1997 1 8:20 Win 6-0 Jesse Gonzalez Submission (ezekiel choke) PSDA November 22, 1997 1 1:15 Win 5-0 Joe Frailey Submission (punches) PSDA November 22, 1997 1 0:56 Win 4-0 Heath Herring Submission (exhaustion) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 7 October 18, 1997 1 6:19 Won USWF Heavyweight Title Win 3-0 Paul Buentello Submission (rear naked choke) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 4 April 12, 1997 1 2:20 Win 2-0 Gary Nabors Submission (keylock) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 4 April 12, 1997 1 2:21 Win 1-0 Mike Kennedy Submission (palm strikes) Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 4 April 12, 1997 1 1:29
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