in desert

http://mmamania.com/2008/09/08/evan-tanner-dies-in-the-desert-seriously/

Quote :

"It appears that former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner could have predicted his own death less than one month ago. The Imperial County Sheriff’s Department today discovered the dead body of a man in the Palo Verde, Calif., mountain area. And it is believed — although still unconfirmed — that it could be Tanner. MMAmania.com has placed several calls to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department and we have been unable to confirm or deny the report. In the meantime, here’s a snip from IVPressOnline.com: “Authorities have not confirmed if the body is that of missing mixed martial arts fighter, Evan Tanner, who had fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Tanner, 37, has been missing since last weekend. Tanner’s friends from Oceanside, where Tanner resides, had been texting him without reply since Wednesday before they reported him missing on Friday. On Sunday, a campsite was discovered in the Clapp Springs area of the Palo Verde mountains. Tanner’s motorcycle was found at the campsite. A body was found today when a sheriffs deputy was flying around the general location of the campsite. The Imperial County deputy coroner is being flown in to retrieve and identify body.” If it is indeed Tanner this is truly a a huge loss. He was a pioneer of the sport who had his own unique approach to fighting and to life. He was an adventure seeker, documenting his travels in great detail on his personal blog and on Spike.com. Tanner recently overcame a dark period in his life and a battle with alcohol. His life was an open book, which either turned fans in his favor or against him. Tanner didn’t really care one way or the other how people felt — he did things his way. He recently returned to the Octagon to recapture some of the glory from earlier in his fighting career; however, he lost his first two comeback bouts. Tanner mentioned that he was going to take some time off and address some injuries that had been hampering him for the past several years. In the meantime, he continued his nomadic ways … let’s just hope this isn’t really the end for one of the most eccentric fighters the sport has ever known. "

great fighter, toook years off to deal with his alcohol problems and made a recent comeback, unfortunately going 0-2 in lopsided fights since his return

but he was a great fighter had some amazing wars and more triangle choke finishes then any fighter ever








[Edited on September 8, 2008 at 10:24 PM. Reason : f]

9/8/2008 10:17:48 PM

lol that last picture looks like a brett favre chop

9/8/2008 10:38:13 PM

this SUCKS!!
he was a cool dude, he'll be missed, but its puzzling as to how he could've died

9/8/2008 10:45:37 PM

hes no Chuck Tanner

9/8/2008 10:51:47 PM

this is from the UFC website
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=14429

Quote :

"Evan Tanner 1971-2008By 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 Related News UFC 88 Musings Evans Fires Perfect Game, Knocks Liddell Out in UFC 88 Main Event Franklin Comes Up Aces with TKO of Hamill at UFC 88 Pellegrino Wins War over Tavares in UFC 88 Prelim Action Official UFC 88 Weigh-In Results 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."

9/8/2008 10:54:45 PM

Suicide?

9/9/2008 12:57:54 AM

no, from what ive read on TMZ he was going into the desert just to kinda hike and shit, and he only wnated to bring the bare minimum


apparently his friends received a text from him sayin something like "dude i need help im out of water" then he never returned their texts since last wednesday

Quote :

"Deana Epperson, who grew up across the street from Tanner and his family in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas, said she'd been told that the fighter had texted friends in Oceanside as late as Thursday, telling them that he'd run out of water and gas for his motorcycle. Authorities were then contacted to try and locate the fighter. "

[Edited on September 9, 2008 at 6:41 AM. Reason : d]

9/9/2008 6:38:58 AM

really sad.

9/9/2008 10:54:44 AM

reminds me of that dude from into the wild.

sucks though, i always liked him as a fighter

9/9/2008 10:59:34 AM

it seems like what happened is that his bike broke down while he was riding around his camp and he happened to be out of water so he tried to hoof it back to his camp and it was about 115=120 degrees

it said he was botu several miles away from his camp

9/9/2008 12:20:47 PM

So if he could text and his phone was on, how could they not find him? Wonder why he didn't call 911.

9/9/2008 12:23:28 PM

because he had said that if he doesnt respond in a couple of days then call authorities before he left

because he did this stuff all the time i guess


but i really dont know, if a man needs water and gas id think to get help out there right away

9/9/2008 12:25:42 PM

Quote :

"reminds me of that dude from into the wild."

Wow, just went to his MySpace and the song is from Into the Wild

http://www.myspace.com/evan_tanner

9/9/2008 12:35:35 PM

Hiking in the desert alone with the bare minimum equipment (and water apparently)....sounds like a Darwin award winner to me.

9/9/2008 3:05:39 PM

^^that is wild.

^ more like he just wanted to test his survival skills/have an adventure it sounds like

can we not shit on someone who, from most accounts, was a decent dude? kkthnx

9/9/2008 3:26:44 PM

I guess he found the limit of his survival skills. Although that isn't a data point most people like to have.

He did something really stupid that cost him his life. That's all I was saying. He might have been the nicest guy in the world. But he wasn't very smart when it comes to hiking apparently.

I bet the guys that had to go search for his carcass would say the same thing. I'm sure they see this kind of thing all the time.

9/9/2008 3:48:28 PM

Quote :

"that is wild."

no it isn't.

9/9/2008 5:13:39 PM