Survival gone wrong

**rebel** · 09-09-2008, 10:41 AM

Former UFC champ Tanner dead at 37
By Jeff Cain, Ken Pishna, and Tom Hamlin/MMAWeekly.com
10 hours, 59 minutes ago

Buzz Up PrintRelated CoverageIole: Tanner his own man Blog: Remembering Tanner Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Evan Tanner was found dead near Palo Verde, Calif. on Monday. He was 37.

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 ‘Survivorman.’” 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 Tanner) believe his motorcycle had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115- to 118-degree heat,” Vincitorio said. “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.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Tanner had apparently told friends before he left that if they hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, they should contact officials, which is what happened. When he stopped responding to text messages, friends waited a couple of days and then notified officials at the Imperial County Sherrif’s Department on Friday.

A search ensued and Tanner’s body was found Monday.

On Aug. 10, Tanner wrote a blog on Spike TV’s website, proclaiming his desire to start an adventure in the desert east of his new home in Oceanside, Calif. An avid outdoorsman and wandering spirit, he wanted to escape civilization for a while.

“I’m not just going out into the desert, I’m going out into the desert to hunt for lost treasure,” he wrote. “I’m going on a pilgrimage of sorts, a journey to solitude, to do some thinking, and to pay my respects to the great mysteries.”

On Aug. 16, Tanner wrote about collecting supplies for his journey, and wrote about the dangers he might face.

“I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life,” he said. “I’ve been doing a great deal of research and study. I want to know all I can about where I’m going, and I want to make sure I have the best equipment.”

Of course, this led followers of his blog to fear for his safety, as they often did when Tanner reported his frequent by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventures. In a blog dated Aug. 27, Tanner tried to calm his audience.

“This isn’t a version of ‘Into the Wild,’” he wrote. “I’m not going out into the desert with a pair of shorts and a bowie knife, to try to live off the land. I’m going fully geared up, and I’m planning on having some fun.”

But he also affirmed that things could go wrong if his equipment wasn’t up to snuff.

“I do plan on going back pretty far, so I did mention in one of my posts that I wanted to make sure to have good quality gear,” he said. “Any failure of gear out in the desert could cause a problem.”

On Sept. 2, Tanner wrote his final blog entry, documenting a training session at a facility in Oceanside.

The Amarillo, Texas native was a high school wrestling stand out who won the state championships his junior and senior years despite only getting into the sport as a sophomore. He entered mixed martial arts in 1997 encouraged by friends.

Tanner rose to the top of the mixed martial arts world by winning the UFC middleweight title over David Terrell at UFC 51: “Super Saturday” Feb. 5, 2005. He lost the title later in the year to Rich Franklin. Tanner, who had a career MMA record of 32-8 last competed in the UFC on June 21 losing to Kendall Grove by split decision.

“He will obviously be sorely missed,” said Vincitorio. Adding, “I think that Evan would want to be remembered as a very complex man with many layers, not just a fighter.”

Tanner was surely a unique personality. He’s eclectic spirit and competitive nature will be sorely missed in the MMA community.

For all the latest MMA news, go to MMAWeekly.com

UFC 86 Live on Yahoo! Sports. Click here to sign up!

**Rick** · 09-09-2008, 01:16 PM

The best equipment, huh? This is a primo example of folks doing the "survival" gig. You can successfully negotiate a "survival" trip a thousand times and drink beer and tell tales about it. But, sometimes, you only get one chance to screw it up. I hope he understands all the great mysteries now.

Good post!

**klkak** · 09-09-2008, 01:27 PM

When I was an ABGD instructor my NCOIC once said. "Sometimes you can have the best training, best equipment and do everything right and still end up dead. While someone else could screw up by the numbers and live. When your time is up, you die!"

**Dennis K.** · 09-09-2008, 03:21 PM

Sad. Respect for nature to a new level.
Momma Nature wins, as usual. Sounds like he took it seriously, but it also sounds like he thought he was invincible. And THAT, my friends, is when you lose.

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.

Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, oh! I backward cast my e'e
On prospects drear!
An' forward , tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

excerpt from
To a Mouse, On Turning up Her Nest with a Plough
by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

//brief paraphrase//
The best laid plans of Mice and Men
Often go astray
And leave us nothing
But grief and pain
in place of promised joy.

**crashdive123** · 09-09-2008, 04:51 PM

It truely is a sad story, and an example that we can sometimes get more "adventure" than we plan for. I wonder if he had not left instructions "told friends before he left that if they hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, they should contact officials, which is what happened" and told his friends if I don't check in at a specified time.....Stories like this will always generate what ifs, coulda, shoulda, woulda comments.

**Gray Wolf** · 09-09-2008, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by klkak

When I was an ABGD instructor my NCOIC once said. "Sometimes you can have the best training, best equipment and do everything right and still end up dead. While someone else could screw up by the numbers and live. When your time is up, you die!"

That's a lot of what the book Deep Survival "Who Lives, Who Dies, And Why" is about. The people you would have thought would make it don't, and the ones you thought would have no chance, do...

Psychology at its finest.

**klkak** · 09-09-2008, 06:21 PM

Mother Nature is neither friend nor foe. She watches with indifferent as to who lives or who dies.

Oh snap!!! I'm starting to sound like another forum member who I will not name.

experiences full body shiver

**klkak** · 09-09-2008, 06:26 PM

This story just reinforces why when I go into the bush for an extended period. I take 3 times the food and fuel I think I will need to complete the trip. As well as a Sat Phone.

**wareagle69** · 09-09-2008, 08:34 PM

evan was a friend of mine we had done the grand canyon togehter, he was a kindred soul always searching to test himself while i am deeply saddened by his death i also take comfort in something we had once shared with each other about life and deathgod speed my freind and may you be in heaven three days before the devil knows your dead.

**crashdive123** · 09-09-2008, 08:39 PM

My condolances WE.

**nell67** · 09-09-2008, 10:23 PM

So sorry about the loss of your friend WarEagle.

**RBB** · 09-10-2008, 12:31 AM

Hmmm. While I don't mind being out locally, I was out in the Nevada desert in June, and I don't think I could last a day in that country away from an air conditioner. Cold I can handle. Heat, I don't care for.

WE: Sorry for the loss of your friend.

**Sarge47** · 09-10-2008, 07:33 AM

Originally Posted by wareagle69

evan was a friend of mine we had done the grand canyon togehter, he was a kindred soul always searching to test himself while i am deeply saddened by his death i also take comfort in something we had once shared with each other about life and deathgod speed my freind and may you be in heaven three days before the devil knows your dead.

I recently lost one of my best friends to Bone Cancer a couple of years back. He always wanted to get out into the outdoors, especially the desert areas, & look for gold, but never did. He died never knowing the joy just being out in the wilderness can bring. I share your loss & can only conclude that at least your friend didn't die in a hospital bed, knowing he was doomed 8 months before he went, but instead took life head-on & died "going for it". There is no shame here, only the fact that you will miss him. What I take away from all this is that even the most experienced can have things go terribly wrong. We should all learn a lesson here & make this gentleman's death mean something. Nothing will bring him back, but we can learn what he has left to us

SARGE.

**Riverrat** · 09-10-2008, 09:03 AM

Sorry for the loss of your friend WE.

**wareagle69** · 09-10-2008, 08:31 PM

i agree sarge, i thought about this most of the night reflecting back on evans life, at least what part i had shared with him, it was said earlier about evan going out w/o the best of equipment and how that may not have been the best of ideas, well if that were the case most of us would be grounded to home camp, it was not an equipment failure from my understanding but the lack of gas, and i have read that he was two miles from camp, i would like to find out more facts before i weigh in on this too much, but this has in a way reminded me of another great explorer that died before his time goran kropp another one of my personal heros.