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I sit here in complete shock and utter disbelief over the news that Evan Tanner is in fact, no longer with us. I found this out around midnight and simply felt numb. I have been aware of Tanner as a fighter since his early appearances in the UFC but he never really stood out for me until he faced Tito Ortiz at UFC 30. From that moment on Evan Tanner became one of my favorite fighters in the sport and while I try to be objective when covering the sport, I cannot write without bias when it comes to Evan.
I celebrated the highs of his victories in the octagon and I felt letdown when he lost in much the same way that a football fan feels dejected when his team loses in the playoffs. The truth is that he was not just a fighter to me but rather so much more to me than just what he happened to do for a living. Evan Tanner was an inspiration to me and a hero of mine.
When it comes to Evan Tanner the fighter, I have to say that his stretch of fights from UFC 42 to UFC 53 were the best of his career and firmly established him as one of the best in the sport and one of the most exciting fighters to watch. The back to back fights with Phil Baroni were exciting and following these victories he proceeded to submit Robbie Lawler at UFC 50 in what was to be Lawler's last fight in the UFC. Riding a three fight winning streak, UFC 51 found Tanner fighting for the middleweight title and becoming the champion by defeating David Terrell in the first round by way of TKO due to strikes in an exciting battle. He lost the belt to Rich Franklin in his first defense of the title at UFC 53 and this was to be the beginning of the end of Tanner's days as a championship caliber fighter.
Tanner would split his next two fights and take a break from the sport that lasted two years. In March of this year he made his return to the sport, but it was soon made clear that he was no longer going to be a viable contender and that his best days in the octagon were very much behind him. What would prove to be Evan's last fight was a split decision loss to Kendall Grove in the main event of "The Ultimate Fighter 7" finale.
While Evan will be forever remembered for having been a fighter, no man can fight forever; and it would be safe to assume that Tanner may have fought once more before hanging them up and embarking on a new journey. He felt that health problems were the culprit behind the lackluster performances in his comeback and was set to retire unless this could be remedied by his doctor. We will never know if he could have gotten healthy and returned once more to the octagon and picked up a victory or if he would have officially retired. I have fond memories of seeing him in action, and will always be a fan of his career as a fighter, but I will not remember him as just a fighter; and while he ended professionally with a loss, he is to be remembered as a winner. There was much more to Evan Tanner and while he fought in an enclosed area, he lived life with no fences in sight.
It is very easy for so many to view Evan Tanner in a poor light due to his addictions and vices; but those who held him with disdain are they that knew him least, and had no clue about what Evan was battling. He was not weak, but he had weaknesses; and these did not make him any less of a man, or worth any less as a human being than anyone who perceived his transgressions as a major character flaw and decided that these were to be what defined Tanner.
He was not unstoppable in the octagon and he was not infallible in his everyday life but by no means did he ever quit trying or back down. Every fighter loses a fight, and we do not write off a fighter who has multiple losses on his record; because if this were the case we would look at Randy Couture's 16 wins against 8 losses and rate him substantially lower than we do. There is more to it than a win-loss record; and the same goes for life because we all fall down from time to time and by no means does this make us losers for doing so.
A guy like Evan lived his life under a watchful eye due to the modicum of fame his MMA career afforded him. He never acted like a VIP and he never expected anyone to know of him due to his being a fighter for the UFC. Evan carried himself in a humble manner and was very approachable and appreciative of any recognition he may have gotten while out in public.
Fighting was something Tanner happened to be skilled at doing and was a way to make a living for him, but it did not consume his life and he really did not live and breathe for this sport. Evan never watched many fights and he never followed any of the news and goings on within the sport, but this does not mean he was aloof by any stretch of the imagination; he had tunnel vision when preparing for his own fights but chose to focus on everything else in life when away from the ring. It was all about the experience for him and stopping along the way to take in those little moments that become great memories.
Not every memory was great as he did experience some battles with the bottle that left him throttled in a way that no opponent he faced was capable. For fifteen years he waged this war with much futility and no success but had finally gained the upper hand on October 10, 2007 and would be the one in control for once and hopefully all. After his comeback fight at UFC 82 resulted in a KO loss to Yushin Okami; Tanner battled a second fight against an even stronger opponent. After this fight Evan felt as if he had let everyone down and embarrassed himself along with his trainers and those who supported him on the way to his UFC return.
The bottle loomed and it became as large as a skyscraper and as welcoming as the warm sun on a cold winter's day with the silent screams which implored Tanner to lose himself in the bottle as a way to feel better about losing the fight. Evan Tanner did not take a single drink. This may not seem remarkable to many and is as banal as telling you that I tied my own shoes this morning, but those who have been there can understand just how big of a moment this was to be. After this fight it became known that Tanner decided to live in a casino for a week and play blackjack with the hopes of righting himself financially; but soon after he retracted the original statements and announced his losses to be somewhere around 300 dollars and not as much as had been assumed.
This was a step back and certainly was trading the vice of alcohol for one of gambling in most eyes, but for this to be his low point was something of a minor success when taking into account the last two years of his life. He stumbled a little but he did not fall down and he did not give in. He would fight once more in a main event and in front of a large television audience and come up short once more.
Following the loss to Grove he got himself stitched up and tried to figure out what he was going to do next in terms of the fighting portion of his life. Evan announced that he had not been well in some time, and would be going to see his doctor in order to ascertain what his ailment was, and to determine if he could again be able to compete without anything putting him at a disadvantage. As of September 2, Tanner was going to continue his MMA career and declared in his final blog that The Compound MMA in Oceanside, California would be where he would set up camp when beginning to train once again in a few weeks. This was not to be.
Evan Tanner trekked out into the desert to "cleanse" himself on Wednesday September 3, 2008 and implored friends to call for help if he did not return right away. On Friday, Tanner sent a text message to a friend that he was out of water and in need of help. His friends would call the Sheriff's Office that day and rescue teams were dispatched to search for him throughout the weekend. With temperatures ranging from 115 to 118 degrees it was considered a certainty that he would have succumbed to the heat in no time at all.
The search continued until Monday morning when a U.S. Marines helicopter spotted a body approximately two miles from the campground where Tanner's belongings had been found. John Hayner, the owner of Driving Force Sports which served to manage Tanner's career, said that people close to the fighter visually identified the body at the scene as being that of the fighter. Cause of death is still undetermined, but it was officially confirmed that it was indeed his body and that he had in fact died out in the very desert, where he had hoped to escape the congestion of everyday life and to be alone with his thoughts.
In one of his final blogs, Evan stated that "there are still places in the world where man has not been, where he has left no footprints, where the mysteries stand secure, untouched by human eyes. I want to go to these places, the quiet, timeless, ageless places, and sit, letting silence and solitude be my teachers", Evan Tanner had experienced enough turmoil in his life and was in search of peace.
I sincerely hope he is at peace now and that he will remain so forever. May he no longer have to battle every day and instead be exploring the afterlife with the same passion he exhibited while living. For the most part death does not faze me. It is imminent and real and there is nothing we can do to stop it for death becomes us one and all. However, the news of Tanner's death struck a particular nerve with me in a way that no "celebrity" death has ever done; and I think it is because I did not view him as a celebrity and I did not think he was better than me. It was because he was as flawed as I am that I was able to relate to him and his victories served to inspire and his many failures proved that all of us can fall down.
Evan Tanner has not fallen down or failed, and he sure has not been vanquished by an opponent in terms of his death, but rather he has passed on to the next challenge that we all shall face. Because for me, Evan Tanner did not die. Heroes never die. Whether you are a 60 year old man who grew up looking up to Mickey Mantle or you are a 35 year old man who still looks up to their 10th grade English teacher for helping to make them who they are today, your heroes will remain so for as long as you can remember and they will come to life each time you revisit the memories. I do not look up to Evan Tanner for his accomplishments and for being a champion but rather how he dealt with adversity and the battle he fought to be able to cope with life's letdowns.
A decade and a half ago, there were a series of commercials for Gatorade that told us all to "Be Like Mike," and showed Michael Jordan after winning his first NBA championship with the Bulls. See, I could never relate to these commercials and I sure as hell could not relate to Mike nor could I ever imagine being like him; he just didn't seem human and I knew that the only thing I could have in common with Jordan was possibly the consumption of Gatorade.
Michael Jordan wasn't real. He was a poster on a wall and a stat sheet of basketball greatness; and while I could appreciate all that he had achieved I knew that we didn't get to see any of his flaws and were never allowed into his world to find out if he was as real as the rest of us were. Evan Tanner welcomed me into his world and showed me that for all of his glory he was just like me in so very many ways. While he once reigned as king of the middleweight division, he was just one of us in the larger scheme of things. Evan Tanner will be remembered for being a fighter but for me that will encompass more than a cage or an octagon. Rest in peace, Evan.
