Evan Tanner

Evan Tanner is one of the most colourful fighters in MMA competition today. He is a free spirit who has traveled the world and learned about things by teaching himself. Tanner began MMA fighting after being talked into fighting in the now-folded USWF (Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation) by some friends. After winning his first event, he began to teach himself submission moves with Gracie instructional tapes. He did have a successful amateur wrestling career, winning a Texas State Championship as a junior in high school.

Tanner continued to fight in the USWF, winning a title in the heavyweight division. That led to fights overseas in Japan where he won five times. He defended his USWF title seven times and in 2000 he got his first UFC fight, beating Lance Gibson. He got a title shot a year later against Tito Ortiz but was slammed unconscious and lost. Tanner won his next four fights until he ran into Rich Franklin and lost by a controversial stoppage. He went 4-0 over his next four fights, including a UFC Middleweight championship fight over David Terrell at UFC 51, only to lose the belt to Franklin in the rematch four months later. That loss was followed by a loss to David Loiseau.

Tanner took some time away from fighting after those two losses, something he has done repeatedly in the past. He came back to beat Justin Levens in April 2006 at UFC 59, only to slip back into hiatus to work on a dream to have a MMA training facility for troubled fighters in his home. He has stayed in shape by training with members of Chute Box.

Recent word has Tanner returning to the octagon in late 2007 at UFC 75 or UFC 76. It’s unsure what weight he will fight at, but he’s expected to fight in the middleweight division and will represent the American Chute Box team. Evan grew quickly in popularity both because of his life story and his popular myspace webpage, where he speaks candidly about his life, fights and outlook on the world.