Evan Tanner - R.I.P.

Back as far as I can remember, I've always liked Martial Arts. My obsession started with the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan (way before they were mainstream in America) Brandon Lee, and your usual characters in Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. Between my friends and I we used to have discussions about which Martial Arts Discipline was the best. We would argue how if Bruce Lee were alive, his Jeet Kune Do fighting style would kick almost anyone's butt.

Other than the Olympics, and in Dojo's there really wasn't a place to see people with different disciplines fight each other. You could always go see a Judo match, a Kickboxing match, but never a Judo fighter vs. a Kickboxer fighter against each other. We got small glimpses of a supposed barbaric sport in the movie called Bloodsport where fighters would fight with their legs and without gloves.

Not too long ago a fighting organization was formed and called the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). Way back in the early 90's we finally got to see fighters with different disciplines fight one another and yeah, it was bloody. Not too many people except die hard fans actually bought the pay per views, but the sport lived underground for a bit.

It wasn't till new ownership of the UFC that the sport took off. The new owners would get the sport commissions to sanction the fights and thus make it legal. Needless to say, I've been a fan ever since the very first UFC. Along the way I grew to like a variety of fighters for very different reasons.One of those fighters was Evan Tanner. I think I associated with Evan simply because he wasn't braggadocios in victory, and he was always humble in defeat.

I was able to attend UFC 50 on October 22 2004 and you know who was on the card that night.
Evan Tanner vs Robbie Lawler.


In the picture below you see Mike Goldberg, and Frank Mir with the mic's and Ken Shamrock sitting on the bottom left hand side.


The first fight of the night. Travis Lutter vs. Marvin Eastman


Believe it or not, Mixed Martial arts is much safer than boxing.


We finally reach the fight with Evan Tanner


Evan Tanner was found dead on Monday September 8, 2008. Besides being a fighter, Evan was somebody who appreciated life and actually lived it to it's fullest. It is believed that after going to the desert he succumbed to the extreme heat, but the reports have been very vague up till now. Perhaps I identify with Evan because he was a free spirited person. Never ordinary, and always searching. What a beautiful way to live your life. I've always said that it's not tragic to die doing what you love.


Evan wrote about his trip to the desert. You can read his writings here. As you well know, I don't believe that Evan went somewhere else and is now living somewhere happily. I believe that Evan lived his life here on Earth, and allowed us to part take in a little bit of it. He has left us his legacy of being an exceptional MMA fighter, but also an exception human being. Thanks for the inspiration Evan Tanner. Thanks for having existed.

"Believe In The Power Of One"