Former UFC Champ Found Dead: Evan Tanner Found Dead in the Desert

Evan Tanner, a UFC fighter known for his wild, animal-like ferocity in the octagon was found dead in the desert near Palo Verde, California on Monday, September 8th. According to the fighter's management team, Tanner, who was 37, was taking a trek into the desert in any attempt to 'cleanse' himself.

These kinds of trips into the wilderness were not uncommon for Tanner, who had done many throughout the years according to his management team, who compared Evan's adventures to the popular television series "Survivorman". Although he wasn't left to completely fend for himself; Tanner never went out into the wild without plenty of survival gear which he purchased only after doing extensive research beforehand. If this gear was to fail him however, the danger could be very real - a point he stressed more than once in his own personal blog, writing "Any failure of gear out in the desert could cause a problem".

And indeed it did. A U.S. Marine helicopter located the dead body of Evan Tanner in Southern California some two miles away from where his belongings were found at a campsite in the desert. It is assumed that when his motorcycle ran out of gas, Tanner decided to take off walking into the 115+ degree desert heat. This proved to be too much to bear, even for the well-conditioned, athletic body of a former UFC champion.

A native of Amarillo, Texas, Evan Tanner had recently made a home in Oceanside, California. He was an excellent wrestler in high school and even won the Texas State Championships as both a junior and senior. In 1997 he entered the world of mixed martial arts; soon he would become a champion in the USWF (Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation, now defunct) and defend that title 5 times. In 2005 he became the undisputed UFC Middleweight champion by beating David Terrell when the referee stopped the match in the last seconds of only the first round. His championship reign in the UFC would be short-lived; he lost the title later that year to competitor Rich Franklin.

But this wasn't the end of Tanner's career by any means. He continued to fight up until his death - his last match being in June of 2008. Evan Tanner's career was ended with 32 wins and 8 losses, and he will be missed in the world of mixed martial arts.