The passing of Evan Tanner - Two years later.

College dropout, adventurer, seeker, traveler, ditch digger, dishwasher, cable tech, concrete worker, steel worker, salad prep, busboy, ski resort security, ski resort rental shop technician. I've worked in a slaughter house. I've been a landscaper. I've done drywall, tile, countertops, wood flooring, roofing. I have been a plumber, worked as a bottle collector at a bar, a bouncer, a doorman, a head of a security team. I have been a basket room clerk, a carpenter, a framer building beach houses, a truss builder. I've lived on a farm. I've lived in the city. I've earned money mowing lawns, selling on ebay, and fighting. A teacher, a trainer, and a coach sometimes. There was a time when I was younger that I didn't know any better than to be a liar, a cheater, and a thief. I have since learned to despise those things. I have had great friendships. I have had great loves. I have been a lover, I have been a son, a brother, and a friend. And I was once a world champion.

The story of my fighting began ten years ago. On my travels, I passed though my hometown of Amarillo, Texas. There was a promoter there putting on shootfighting shows. I was out adventuring at the time, collecting stories that I would be able to tell my future children and grand children. I thought being in a shootfighting event would be a really interesting story, and it would be one more adventure under my belt. I didn't really have anything to prove, I was on a peaceful path. I just wanted the adventure and the story. I signed up for the next show. I planned on fighting just once. I had no desire to continue beyond that. Fighing was definitely no dream of mine. I didn't know anything about fighting, so I bought some Gracie Jiu Jitsu technique videos and began learning. My friend and I would sit there in the livingroom in front of the TV studying techniques. Then we would push the coffee table and the couch to the side and spar. That is how I first began to learn how to fight. I signed up for the heavyweight tournament that was being held at the next show. Although I only weighed about 190 pounds, I thought what better challenge than to fight the biggest, meanest, toughest guys in the area. I fought three times that first night. I won the tournament. I was satisfied. I was done. That was enough. I had the adventure, and I had my story. I was ready to go back to the path of peace, and move on to other adventures. That would have been the end of my fighting, but one day I got a call from the promoter. I was offered a shot at the heavyweight title belt. It was another chance at an interesting story I couldn't pass up.

I've been fighting ever since. It's not who I am, it's not how I define myself. It's just something I do. There are many other things I could be, many other paths I could be walking, but fighting is what the fates put before me. There is an ultimate purpose to it.College dropout, adventurer, seeker, traveler, ditch digger, dishwasher, cable tech, concrete worker, steel worker, salad prep, busboy, ski resort security, ski resort rental shop technician. I've worked in a slaughter house. I've been a landscaper. I've done drywall, tile, countertops, wood flooring, roofing. I have been a plumber, worked as a bottle collector at a bar, a bouncer, a doorman, a head of a security team. I have been a basket room clerk, a carpenter, a framer building beach houses, a truss builder. I've lived on a farm. I've lived in the city. I've earned money mowing lawns, selling on ebay, and fighting. A teacher, a trainer, and a coach sometimes. There was a time when I was younger that I didn't know any better than to be a liar, a cheater, and a thief. I have since learned to despise those things. I have had great friendships. I have had great loves. I have been a lover, I have been a son, a brother, and a friend. And I was once a world champion.

The story of my fighting began ten years ago. On my travels, I passed though my hometown of Amarillo, Texas. There was a promoter there putting on shootfighting shows. I was out adventuring at the time, collecting stories that I would be able to tell my future children and grand children. I thought being in a shootfighting event would be a really interesting story, and it would be one more adventure under my belt. I didn't really have anything to prove, I was on a peaceful path. I just wanted the adventure and the story. I signed up for the next show. I planned on fighting just once. I had no desire to continue beyond that. Fighing was definitely no dream of mine. I didn't know anything about fighting, so I bought some Gracie Jiu Jitsu technique videos and began learning. My friend and I would sit there in the livingroom in front of the TV studying techniques. Then we would push the coffee table and the couch to the side and spar. That is how I first began to learn how to fight. I signed up for the heavyweight tournament that was being held at the next show. Although I only weighed about 190 pounds, I thought what better challenge than to fight the biggest, meanest, toughest guys in the area. I fought three times that first night. I won the tournament. I was satisfied. I was done. That was enough. I had the adventure, and I had my story. I was ready to go back to the path of peace, and move on to other adventures. That would have been the end of my fighting, but one day I got a call from the promoter. I was offered a shot at the heavyweight title belt. It was another chance at an interesting story I couldn't pass up.

I've been fighting ever since. It's not who I am, it's not how I define myself. It's just something I do. There are many other things I could be, many other paths I could be walking, but fighting is what the fates put before me. There is an ultimate purpose to it.

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:Evan Tanner on Evan Tanner

College dropout, adventurer, seeker, traveler, ditch digger, dishwasher, cable tech, concrete worker, steel worker, salad prep, busboy, ski resort security, ski resort rental shop technician. I've worked in a slaughter house. I've been a landscaper. I've done drywall, tile, countertops, wood flooring, roofing. I have been a plumber, worked as a bottle collector at a bar, a bouncer, a doorman, a head of a security team. I have been a basket room clerk, a carpenter, a framer building beach houses, a truss builder. I've lived on a farm. I've lived in the city. I've earned money mowing lawns, selling on ebay, and fighting. A teacher, a trainer, and a coach sometimes. There was a time when I was younger that I didn't know any better than to be a liar, a cheater, and a thief. I have since learned to despise those things. I have had great friendships. I have had great loves. I have been a lover, I have been a son, a brother, and a friend. And I was once a world champion.