Sep 09 2008
Ex-UFC champ found dead in the desert
The body of thirty-seven-year-old Evan Tanner was found on Monday near Palo Verde, CA. Tanner was a former Ultimate Fighting Championship wrestler who won the middleweight title in 2005. His management team says that Tanner had embarked on a solitary trip into the desert, something he did periodically as a “cleansing” retreat.
It is believed that after Tanner’s motorcycle ran out of gas, he started walking the remaining miles to his camp in the 115-degree-heat. Before departing on his trip, Tanner asked friends to contact officials if they didn’t hear from him in a few days. After he stopped responding to text messages, they notified the sheriff’s department, and his body was found shortly after.
Tanner was aware of the dangers involved in his journey. In his Spike TV blog, he wrote, “This isn’t a version of ‘Into the Wild.’ 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.” He continued, “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. Any failure of gear out in the desert could cause a problem.”
