protow
09-09-2008, 01:28 PM
Former UFC middleweight champ Evan Tanner was found dead on Monday in the Palo Verde mountain area in California after Tanner had gone missing in the area over the weekend.
Shocking sports deaths Sports often give us our greatest moments of ecstasy. Sometimes they plunge us into the depths of tragedy. We pay tribute to 10 untimely deaths that stunned the sports world. Tanner, 37, had blogged ominously about his trip into the desert to "cleanse."
"I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life," he wrote on his journal for Spike TV.
His death was confirmed by a member of his management team at Driving Force Sports to MMAWeekly.com.
Douglas Vincitorio of Driving Force Sports said "What we were told is that (sheriff's officials who found Tanner) believe his motorcycle had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115- to 118-degree heat. He was miles away from his camp. That's where the helicopter found him. Right now, they just think that he succumbed to the heat."
Evan Tanner. (Derek Hamilton / InsideFighting.com)
Tanner made his MMA debut in April of 1997 winning three fights in one night, including a win over Paul Buentello. His biggest fight came in February of 2001 when he challenged then UFC Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in the main event of UFC 30 but was knocked out in just 32 seconds.
Tanner later moved down to 185 pounds and won the vacant UFC Middleweight Championship over David Terrell, but then lost the title in June of 2005 to Rich Franklin in a fight where the winner would also become one of the coaches for the 2nd season of "The Ultimate Fighter".
The UFC signed Tanner to a four fight contract last November with the first fight of that contract taking place earlier this year in March at UFC 82 in Columbus, Ohio. He lost by KO to Yushin Okami and then suffered another loss in June to Kendall Grove by split decision on the TUF 7 Finale show in Las Vegas.
Shocking sports deaths Sports often give us our greatest moments of ecstasy. Sometimes they plunge us into the depths of tragedy. We pay tribute to 10 untimely deaths that stunned the sports world. Tanner, 37, had blogged ominously about his trip into the desert to "cleanse."
"I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life," he wrote on his journal for Spike TV.
His death was confirmed by a member of his management team at Driving Force Sports to MMAWeekly.com.
Douglas Vincitorio of Driving Force Sports said "What we were told is that (sheriff's officials who found Tanner) believe his motorcycle had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115- to 118-degree heat. He was miles away from his camp. That's where the helicopter found him. Right now, they just think that he succumbed to the heat."
Evan Tanner. (Derek Hamilton / InsideFighting.com)
Tanner made his MMA debut in April of 1997 winning three fights in one night, including a win over Paul Buentello. His biggest fight came in February of 2001 when he challenged then UFC Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in the main event of UFC 30 but was knocked out in just 32 seconds.
Tanner later moved down to 185 pounds and won the vacant UFC Middleweight Championship over David Terrell, but then lost the title in June of 2005 to Rich Franklin in a fight where the winner would also become one of the coaches for the 2nd season of "The Ultimate Fighter".
The UFC signed Tanner to a four fight contract last November with the first fight of that contract taking place earlier this year in March at UFC 82 in Columbus, Ohio. He lost by KO to Yushin Okami and then suffered another loss in June to Kendall Grove by split decision on the TUF 7 Finale show in Las Vegas.