I write this with a sad and heavy heart because as you have probably already heard, Evan Tanner died in the Southern California desert earlier this week on September 8, 2008.  If there is one thing I have had too much of in my life, it is death.  Obviously not to me personally, but to many people who have come into my life in capacities both large and small.  While Evan and I really only knew each other from the world of fighting, he was one of those individuals that you liked, because of his easy going nature and the simplicity with which he went through life.  He was also one of the most complex men I knew with some of the demons he struggled through life with.  Nobody is perfect, and Evan was right there with the rest of us, but he lived his life the way he wanted.  Many people figure that since he was a fighter and was seen on TV he must have been doing pretty well financially.  They figure that he would have a home, nice car, and some money in the bank.  That was not the life that Evan Tanner led.  The fact that Evan died alone in the middle of nowhere should not be dismissed as mere coincidence.  It is the final chapter of a story that seemed to carry on throughout the life of a man known as a nomadic spirit that was happy being himself no matter what anyone else thought. 

When trying to characterize or categorize Evan Tanner you would be hard pressed to come up with one word to describe such a deeply complex individual.  Most people know of Evan because he was a fighter, but when you got to know Evan you knew a man that was much more than a fighter.  Fighting was something he did and why?  Because it was part of the adventure, something that made life interesting, something that made him feel alive and that is why he was in the middle of the desert out on his own discovering god knows what, but doing it on his own terms, in a manner that made sense to him and made him feel that he was living his life in a way that meant the most to him, like it was an adventure because he was one of the ultimate adventurer's, a philosophical renaissance man that lived many lives.

I first met Evan before his first fight in the UFC back at UFC 18.  He was matched against Darryl Gholar, a tremendous wrestler who was a 3 time national champion in Greco Roman, and had been an alternate on the 1988 Olympic team.  Evan was coming into the UFC with some great credentials as a fighter.  He had been fighting in the United States Shootfighting Association in Texas, and had recently won the Pancrase Neo-Blood Tourney.  He was a solid wrestler that threw big knees and elbows and it was said that he learned his submission game from videotapes.   The fight was a good fight with Darryl Gholar getting the best of Evan in the early parts of the fight but not being able to really hurt Evan or crack his defenses.  Evan pushed the pace and eventually broke Darryl with a series of knees and elbows that allowed Evan to get a rear naked choke that ended the fight in the first round.  It was a great start in the UFC for a young fighter with an unlimited amount of potential. 

Through the years I was inside the cage to witness Evan in both good times and bad.  Evans first attempt at a world title came at UFC 30 in New Jersey against the Huntington Beach Bad Boy Tito Ortiz.  On that night I remember Evan coming into the cage with his "Believe in the Power of One" line that he really lived by.  The   music that was playing was screaming out "Right Here, Right Now" but that was all the theatrics that accompanied Evan Tanner into the cage that night.  In contrast Tito had a fireworks show that was unbelievable and entered to a song written for him claiming Tito's in the house.  After starting the fight there was a short feeling out period when Evan and Tito clinched, I had no idea that it was the beginning of the end for Evan that night.  With double underhooks secured Tito lifted Evan up in a body lock and slammed him to the ground causing Evan to bounce his head off of the flooring of the Octagon, knocking him unconscious.   If you look at the Octagon that is used today, it was constructed and engineered to help absorb the shock of slams because of Evans fight with Tito back at UFC 30. 

Evan obviously went on to bigger and better things in the sport of MMA.  In his second shot at a world title he won the UFC middleweight championship when he defeated David Terrell in a fight that the odds makers had Evan as a 3 to 1 underdog.  He proved every one of them wrong surviving a deep guillotine attempt at the beginning of the fight and then doing what Evan did best, launching an endless blitz of punches and elbows that drew a referee stoppage for a TKO victory in the first round.  When you stop and think about the fact that this man was the top fighter in the UFC's middleweight division and he really never fully practiced his trade.  Now don't get me wrong, Evan trained and when he trained he trained hard, but he only trained when he had a fight coming up.  As he explained it to me, there were just too many things to do in life, too many sites to see, too much life to experience to spend it all training in a gym somewhere. 

I am going to miss Evan Tanner.  I will miss the shy and quiet good-hearted, give you the shirt off of his back even though it is the only shirt he has man that was Evan Tanner.  Evan everybody dies, but how many of us have really lived?  I believe that you really did and hopefully you have found the peace you have been searching for. God bless Evan.