Evan Tanner

Evan Lloyd Tanner (February 11, 1971 – September 5, 2008) was an American professional mixed martial arts fighter.

He was a former UFC Middleweight Champion and was the first American to win the Pancrase Neo-Blood tournament in Tokyo, Japan.

Tanner won the UFC Middleweight Championship at UFC 51, stopping David Terrell with strikes in the first round.

He is considered a pioneer in the sport of MMA and one of the first fighters to use elbows as an effective striking method in the ground and pound position.

Tanner is considered to be somewhat of an anomaly in MMA as he began his professional career with a large degree of success despite primarily learning the sport via instructional videotape.

He was also one of the first MMA fighters to use social media as a platform to connect with fans.

Tanner earned notable career victories over former UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler, former King of Pancrase Middleweight and Welterweight Champion Kiuma Kunioku, Heath Herring, Paul Buentello, Phil Baroni (x2) and Ikuhisa Minowa, among others.

Tanner was born in Amarillo, Texas, and graduated in 1989 from Caprock High School, where he won the Texas state championship in wrestling as a junior and senior despite only entering the sport in his second year of high school.

He attended Simpson College in Iowa, but dropped out when he was 19.

He worked various jobs around the country as a bouncer, cable television contractor, framer building beach houses, dishwasher, baker, ditch digger, and slaughterhouse worker.

He attended the University of Oklahoma for one semester before returning to Amarillo, where he entered a mixed martial arts tournament.

During his UFC career, Tanner lived in Portland, Oregon and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tanner, with a wrestling background, began fighting in 1997 when he was convinced by friends to enter a local MMA tournament hosted by the now defunct Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation.

He won the tournament by defeating three fighters in one night, including future UFC heavyweight contender Paul Buentello.

After his initial success, Tanner taught himself submission and grappling techniques using instructional videos created by the famous Gracie family.

He continued to fight in local shows and tournaments in Texas and Iowa before traveling to Japan to compete in the Pancrase organization.

He won five fights overseas and competed in the USWF once more before being asked to join the UFC.

Tanner made his UFC debut in 1999 at UFC 18, submitting fellow Amarillo native Darrell Gholar by rear naked choke in the first round.

His next UFC fight was at UFC 19 against Valerie Ignatov, who was known for leg submissions.

Because of this, Tanner decided to fight barefoot for the first time in his career.

Tanner fought once more in Pancrase and defended his title two more times in the USWF before deciding to take the first of multiple breaks from fighting in his career.

He returned in July 2000 and remained undefeated in the USWF, successfully defending his heavyweight belt with wins against Raoul Romero and Vinny Nixon.

His next appearance was at UFC 29, where he defeated Lance Gibson by TKO.

With three victories in the UFC, Tanner received a title shot against UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 30.

He was knocked unconscious 32 seconds into the first round by a high level slam by Ortiz.

Tanner was invited to compete in the −88 kg division at the 2001 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship April 11–13, 2001 at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

He was defeated by Sanae Kikuta on points (6–0) in the first round.

Tanner began training with Oregon-based Team Quest.

He returned to the Octagon at UFC 34, defeating Homer Moore in the second round with an armbar.

At UFC 36, he defeated Elvis Sinosic by TKO (cut).

At UFC 38, he won a unanimous decision over Chris Haseman in an undercard bout.

At UFC 42, he lost to Rich Franklin by TKO (strikes) in the first round.

After his defeat by Franklin, Tanner moved to the middleweight division, where he would be more physically imposing than many of the opponents.

Tanner faced Phil Baroni in consecutive fights at UFC 45 and UFC 48. In the early minutes of their fight at UFC 45, Baroni was in control, but Tanner took Baroni to the ground and landed a series of unanswered punches and elbows.

After a brief verbal exchange between Baroni and referee Larry Landless, the fight was stopped and Tanner was awarded the victory.

Immediately after the fight, Baroni contended that he did not submit and in the confusion struck Landless twice in the face.

Baroni maintained that it was a verbal miscommunication and he never asked for the fight to be stopped.

To quell the controversy, the UFC agreed to give Baroni a rematch at UFC 48, which Tanner won.

Tanner defeated Robbie Lawler at UFC 50 in October 2004, submitting Lawler with a triangle choke.

In 2008, he relocated to Oceanside, California.