Sad News ~ Former UFC Champ Evan Tanner found Dead...

Report coming from MMAWeekly:

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight titleholder Evan Tanner
was found dead near Palo Verde, Calif. on Monday. He was 37 years old. His
management team at DFS Agency confirmed his death to MMAWeekly.com.Tanner had trekked into the desert on a journey to “cleanse” himself, according to Douglas
Vincitorio of DFS. “He went out to the desert to do a ‘cleansing’ as he called
it. Kind of like ‘Survivor Man.’” 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 him) believe his motorcycle
had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115 to 118-degree heat,” said
Vincitorio. “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.”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 on 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. Tanner 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
eccentric spirit and competitive nature will be sorely missed in the MMA
community.