After being inactive for almost 2 years, Dana White has
decided to renew the contract for the former UFC middleweight champion
Evan Tanner. He signed a 4-fight deal with the UFC according to his
official website.
Tanner is known as being the former USWF (Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation) heavyweight champion. He acquired his heavyweight title after beating Heath Herring in October of 1997 via TKO-exhaustion in the sixth minute of Round 1. Thereafter, he continued to defend his title for a total of 5 consecutive times.
At the UFC, Tanner became well known when he defeated David Terrell at UFC 51 to attain the UFC middleweight title for the very first time. Tanner was then offered a chance to become a coach of The Ultimate Fighter 2 series, which was something he most desired as it would give him complete MMA coaching exposure if he were to beat Rich Franklin. Franklin was considered one of the toughest fighters in mixed martial arts at the time and he had just signed with the UFC. He held a record of 17 wins and only 1 loss so it wasn’t going to be easy. Unfortunately for Tanner, he was defeated by Franklin at UFC 53 via TKO-doctor stoppage. He went on to fight 2 more times before leaving the UFC for some time. His last fight was against Justin Levens where he submitted him via a triangle choke in Round 1.
Although Tanner has been absent for quite a while, he still holds an impressive record of 32-6-0 with notable wins over Paul Buentello, Heath Herring, Ikuhisa Minowa, Phil Baroni, David Terrell and current EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler. His next upcoming fight in the UFC is unknown, but we can assure you that he looks very eager to come back. More information on his next bout will be posted as soon as we are notified.
