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View Full Version : Evan Tanner found dead in dessert!!!....



Get_Swole
09-09-2008, 11:02 AM
Seems we have lost a good fighter from the octagon
RIP Evan wherever you are.

“I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life.”


– Evan Tanner, August 18, 2008

It appears that former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner predicted his own death less than one month ago.

The Imperial County Sheriff’s Department today discovered the dead body of a man in the Palo Verde, Calif., mountain area. And it is indeed Tanner.

MMAmania.com has placed several calls to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department and we have been unable to confirm or deny the report. However, it has been confirmed by several people close to Tanner.

Here’s a snip from IVPressOnline.com:

“Authorities have not confirmed if the body is that of missing mixed martial arts fighter, Evan Tanner, who had fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Tanner, 37, has been missing since last weekend. Tanner’s friends from Oceanside, where Tanner resides, had been texting him without reply since Wednesday before they reported him missing on Friday. On Sunday, a campsite was discovered in the Clapp Springs area of the Palo Verde mountains. Tanner’s motorcycle was found at the campsite. A body was found today when a sheriffs deputy was flying around the general location of the campsite. The Imperial County deputy coroner is being flown in to retrieve and identify body.”

This is truly a a huge loss. He was a pioneer of the sport who had his own unique approach to fighting and to life.

He was an adventure seeker, documenting his travels in great detail on his personal blog and on Spike.com. Tanner recently overcame a dark period in his life and a battle with alcohol.

His life was an open book, which either turned fans in his favor or against him. Tanner didn’t really care one way or the other how people felt — he did things his way.

He recently returned to the Octagon to recapture some of the glory from earlier in his fighting career; however, he lost his first two comeback bouts.

Tanner mentioned that he was going to take some time off and address some injuries that had been hampering him for the past several years. In the meantime, he continued his nomadic ways. While terribly tragic and entirely premature, it’s perhaps a poetic end for one of the most eccentric fighters the sport has ever known.

Rest in peace, Evan.

Evan Tanner dies in dessert (http://mmamania.com/2008/09/08/evan-tanner-dies-in-the-desert-seriously/)

jtunderdog
09-09-2008, 11:25 AM
Sad story. I liked watching him fight. You could tell he had a passion for what he did. 37 years old, four years older than I am. Kinda puts life in perspective. Make the most of everyday.

dorian123
09-09-2008, 12:23 PM
yeah you walk around every day and don't think about what a gift it is

klowndog
09-09-2008, 04:06 PM
Nice thread title. Did he die in the boston creme pie or was it in the jello? Desert is spelled with 1 s, not 2.

jtunderdog
09-09-2008, 04:17 PM
My wife called me and told me about this after reading it in a headline online. She said that the article she read said that he probably died of heat exhaustion.

h8tr3d
09-09-2008, 06:31 PM
i never understand why people do bizzare shit like that

klowndog
09-09-2008, 07:14 PM
With him sayin"may not make it back", makes me wonder if it was suicide or accidental. That would be the way to go though, solitude.

Get_Swole
09-09-2008, 10:50 PM
With him sayin"may not make it back", makes me wonder if it was suicide or accidental. That would be the way to go though, solitude.
one of the things he said was im going so deep into the desert that if any of my gear fails then i will die.

Get_Swole
09-09-2008, 10:50 PM
more info from mmaweekly

Tanner had trekked into the desert on a journey to “cleanse” himself, according to Douglas Vincitorio of Tanner’s management team. “He went out to the desert to do a ‘cleansing’ as he called it. Kind of like ‘Survivor Man.’” These short trips were not new to Tanner, said Vincitorio. It is something that he has done numerous times over the years.

“What we were told is that (sheriff’s officials who found him) believe his motorcycle had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115 to 118-degree heat,” said Vincitorio. “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.”

(UPDATE)
Lt. George Moreno of the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department has reported that Tanner set out treasure hunting on Wednesday, Sept. 3, asking friends to call for help if he didn’t return right away. Lt. Moreno says friends called the Sheriff’s Office on Friday, Sept. 5, and search and rescue teams looked for him throughout the weekend in temperatures up to 114 degrees.

The U.S. Marines used a helicopter to search by air Monday morning, finally spotting a body two miles from the campground where Tanner’s belongings were found earlier, according to Lt. Moreno. While a coroner has yet to confirm the body is Tanner’s, John Hayner, the owner at Driving Force Sports, says people close to to the fighter visually identified his body at the scene.

klowndog
09-10-2008, 08:21 AM
Damn that's sad. At least he went out swingin.

dreww
09-11-2008, 01:45 AM
well thats one dreadful story to read today.