Once I Was a Champion Page #10

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BTU the returning UFC

middleweight Evan Tanner.

I want to thank you a bunch

for taking the time

to talk with us, Evan.

No worries.

So how's everything going

with you, man?

You know, tell us

what's been going on with you.

Been training.

That's about it.

Yeah, got settled in in Vegas, hard

knocks Muay Thai. Training every day.

That's about it.

Yup, yup.

- Full-time job.

- How's everything

with your health?

Everything feeling good?

You feeling good?

I'm feeling really good.

Yeah, focused on the task

at hand and everything?

I'm ready to go, you know.

A guy doesn't, you know,

forget how to fight.

You know,

I've been fighting so long.

You know, people have talked

about ring rust and all that.

You know, that's not gonna play...

I don't think that's gonna play,

you know, a factor at all.

I feel good.

He was a guy that we really

liked, and we really respected him.

And that was why, when he wanted

to make that comeback, you know,

we instantly brought him.

It wasn't like, "hey, Evan.

Fight in the smaller shows

and work your way back in. "

We brought Evan Tanner

right back in.

He cut everything that was in the

way, and he focused on training.

So he didn't have a place to

stay where he can focus on that,

so he stayed right here, right

underneath that ring over there.

And he spend probably two weeks,

three weeks, maybe more.

He had his own key.

And he was very open to learn,

so in the process of learning,

he considered himself

a beginner.

All right? So I will put him to spar

with the regular class sometimes.

And one of the guys will be all

eager... happy to spar with him,

and Evan kick him in the leg and

give him a big, fat, black bruise.

But the guy,

instead of being all bitchy

and complaining about it...

the bruise,

he would come back

the day after and show it

to everybody

because Evan gave it to him.

As far as training went,

like every aspect of his life,

he was very giving.

He actually, you know,

while he was getting ready

for the fight for Okami, he

took time out of his training

to get me ready for a fight.

We trained and did a hardcore workout

and got back to the apartment.

I said, "oh, we've got

a couple hours.

We're gonna kill this movie. "

"No, no, no, no, no.

"Like, we... you're not gonna want

to train "after this movie.

It's awesome.

It's awesome. "

So I was getting excited and asking,

and he wouldn't tell me what it was.

Went and trained again, came back

and, so excited, set up the laptop

on the cardboard box and asked him

what it was again, wouldn't tell me.

And then put it in, he's like, "just watch.

Just watch. "

And it was the cutting edge, which

is a cheesy romantic comedy

about a injured hockey player

who turns figure skater.

And I was just blown away that

Evan thought that I was...

I don't know, I was like,

"why the hell did you think

I was gonna love this movie

so much?" You know?

Like, I don't skate. I don't...

I had a sponsor here in Vegas

that knew Evan was here

in Vegas.

He was getting ready to fight

for the UFC,

and they wanted to give him,

like, I think

it was, like, 35 grand

for one fight.

Wanted to give him,

like, 35 grand.

But he had to wear a shirt,

you know, of the sponsor.

He's like, "um, no. "

Evan made his T-shirt,

you know, and he kind of went

to the people, and he wanted to be

sponsored by the fans directly,

which is, you know, a very interesting

and, you know, unique approach.

And I guess I understood it

to an extent, you know.

And I called him one time and

asked him for a... for a glove.

He said, "who's it for?"

And I said, "it's for my son. "

And he put a message on there.

And, when Evan gave you

something, that was yours.

The message said, to Hampton,

"speak true, dream big,

live strong. "

He called me one night,

and he said, "wade, do you think

Hampton would mind

if I borrowed those words?"

And I said, "absolutely not. "

He would use... he was using himself

as a common ground for everybody.

You would see that people

were getting together

just to see him back in

the ring and all that.

And he was the power of one.

Many ones.

So he brought us together.

We like to hear guys

that are like,

"whoever... whoever is perceived

to be the best

"and that I can climb up

and, you know,

"get a little higher in the rankings

"and possibly get a title fight,

I'll fight anybody,

anywhere, anytime. "

And that's who Evan Tanner was.

How do you feel about this...

the time off you've had

from the last fight

up until this moment?

Preparation-wise,

is there anything you feel

you're gonna do different,

technique-wise,

or how you're

gonna approach this?

Had some things, you know,

to kind of get over.

You know, my first...

what's a way to say this?

Took two years off.

Got in pretty bad shape.

Took me a while to get back...

even back in training shape.

Went into my first fight, my first

fight back, not feeling so well.

You know,

everything stabilized.

I'm feeling really good

physically.

The training's been

just as intense.

It's just my body's

responding better now.

The week before he fought

my friend Kendall grove

in the UFC, I think his last UFC

fight, and it was like the same thing.

He had no one to train with,

you know.

He was at warrior gym,

and he was by himself,

and, like I said,

I'd been there before,

so, you know, I've been there,

even my first UFC fight, you know.

He was going there alone too,

so I helped him a little bit.

I didn't, like, really help him as

far as like, "this is what you got

to do to beat Kendall," at all, but

I was just, like, a body for him

to, like, drill

his technique on,

and I remember thinking

that, like, you know,

"this isn't the guy I fought. "

At first, I was trying to think,

like, "man, I'm a lot better now. "

You know what I mean? "I can beat,

you know, Evan Tanner easy now. "

But the first time we fought,

we stared each other down,

and then he turned around,

and I remember he had, like,

huge muscles

in his back, you know.

His upper traps and his shoulders

and stuff were big, and, you know,

he turned around

and he walked this way,

and I followed behind him

off the stage,

and then after, like,

the second day of training

or the third day of training,

I was thinking,

"man, you know,

I got much better now.

I'm really good. "

And he took a shower

and took his shirt off,

and he didn't have

any of those,

any of the muscles

like he did, you know.

All I could see

was a lot of freckles, you know.

It stuck out in my mind.

His electrolytes and energy system being

messed up from years of drinking.

Like, he didn't feel right

a lot of the time, so, like...

and I thought, you know,

we were talking earlier.

He had good days and bad.

He's just kind of like his...

you know, almost like he'd kind of

drank himself diabetic or something.

He called me into the washroom one

morning and is like, "look at that. "

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