Tanner vs Leban or Tanner vs Okami

I think they might give him a less of a fighter than that.

i think maybe tanner vs leban also or maybe even lutter if franklin doesn’t fight him

I’m not gonna hold my breath for Tanner vs Silva… He’s really gotta get in there and shine right off the bat for that to even be considered match worthy. Lotta ring rust, plus the fight game has evolved alot while he’s been under a rock.

he could’nt even do anything in the franklin fights,
completely outmuscled, outsmarted, and outstruck.

i think it would be a very bad fight for tanner should he fight silva because he can take punishment and anderson can dish it out.

Tanner Vs Bisping

I’m behind Tanner win, lose, or early unfair stoppage!

Bisping is moving to middleweight & needs a “Big Name/Former Champ” opponent.
They probably want Tanner as a stepping stone for Bisping.
Basically a “Ken Shamrock”….

Make sense or am I completely off? I do think Tanner would whoop him if they fought.

I can’t wait to see his head swollen up again… that’s some good party tricks he got in the bag!

If he can get any where close to his old form, he will be tough and at the very least extremely entertaining. I am curious to see how much ring rust he actusally has and how he will fight with no liver.

[quote comment=”235086″]I’m not gonna hold my breath for Tanner vs Silva… He’s really gotta get in there and shine right off the bat for that to even be considered match worthy. Lotta ring rust, plus the fight game has evolved alot while he’s been under a rock.[/quote]

you dont half to hold your breath because it wil be tanner vs anderson silva in late 08 as a three rounder after silva gets dethrowned viciously by Dan Henderson.

any guy whose introduction to mma came via instruction videos and fights at the level Evan Tanner does is awesome.

[quote comment=”235099″]Tanner Vs Bisping[/quote]
im with that.let Tanner welcome bisping to mw with good ole fashion ass whipping

I hope Tanner doesnt lose his first match back. Middle weight needs him so bad, it would be a huge dissapointment.

Tanner and Franklin would be good. If Tanner can overcome his personal demons he could be a top ten middleweight.

They should give him a couple of B-level fighters like leban and bisping. Not to make it easy for him, but to show those younger guys what its all about, plus he hasnt fought in two years so he cant really be considered an A-level fighter. Then he should fight the loser of the Hendo/Silva match, and then the winner for the title.

tanner vs leban or bisping,either one would be an awesome fight

[quote comment=”235209″]Tanner and Franklin would be good. If Tanner can overcome his personal demons he could be a top ten middleweight.[/quote]

Tanner wants to fight Franklin..

There was a great one on one interview with Evan Tanner on fighthype.com last week…

Tanner talks about his MMa career, and how he does not consider this a huge comeback…

MANIA you should post something on Evan’s new idea of “Team Tanner”…..he mentions it in his fighthype interview aswell.

whoever Tanner fights in his 1st fight back doesn’t matter..

IMO- Tanner could handle any MW right now with ease” the only exception’s are Silva, and Hendo….and Tanners first fight back wont be one of these two…

IMO- Tanner will most likely win his first fight back and have to fight the loser of Hendo/Silva and agian IMO
Tanner will end up fighting Hendo after Andy beats him…

http://www.evantanner.net enter the site and click on journal/blog

check this out-i hope the after picture is a lot better than the before picture!

Im glad to see tanner back, but Id have to go with Silva cmon he handled Rich twice. But regardless im glad to see him back and fighting again and all the luck in the world to him

They aren’t going to do that to Bisping. The UFC needs him to succeed and progress, and a fight with Tanner is not likely to advance his career. Both of them will get relatively easy opponents for their first fight at 185.

[quote comment=”235181″]I hope Tanner doesnt lose his first match back. Middle weight needs him so bad, it would be a huge dissapointment.[/quote]
I’d bet 2 year off Tanner could beat leben and bisbing at the same time. With leben’s eye’s closed swingin & bis runnin, maybe bis will get knocked out by Leben’s swingin. Tanner wins without even throwing a punch!!

Who actually thinks this washup is gonna be able to come even close to anderson silva…. silva is next level right now and the middle weight is trying to catch up to his talent…. he’s untouchable until they bring someone who can come close

[quote comment=”235290″][quote comment=”235209″]Tanner and Franklin would be good. If Tanner can overcome his personal demons he could be a top ten middleweight.[/quote]

Tanner wants to fight Franklin..

There was a great one on one interview with Evan Tanner on fighthype.com last week…

Tanner talks about his MMa career, and how he does not consider this a huge comeback…

MANIA you should post something on Evan’s new idea of “Team Tanner”…..he mentions it in his fighthype interview aswell.[/quote]

Well, just a little something something you did not know.

I actually had an interview set up with Evan Tanner on the 1st of this month. But Evan never returned my e-mails or phone calls.

We were going to talk about his comeback and his Team Tanner vision. Then I go to 2 websites and I see that he conducted interviews with them. Let’s just say I was not too happy.

[quote comment=”235390″]They aren’t going to do that to Bisping. The UFC needs him to succeed and progress, and a fight with Tanner is not likely to advance his career. Both of them will get relatively easy opponents for their first fight at 185.[/quote]

PW: I completely agree. The UFC has invested a lot of resources in Bisping, and he is coming off a loss, and a shaky decision win, so his next fight will be against a b-level fighter whom he should beat. I am thinking Alan Belcher would be a real good next opponent for either Bisping or Tanner. Belcher is exciting but he is very beatable.

Tanner is a wildcard. No one can predict how effective he will be in his return to the octagon. But Tanner has shown one of the bigest Hearts in the business. Heart can not be afected by ring rust, so heart alone should help him compete against anyone except Silva, and Hendo.

I can not really predict what type of opponent he will get in his 1st fight back in the cage. Will he face a young, relitevely inexperienced fighter like Kalib Starnes or a Jason McDonald? or they might give him a can making his octagon Debut. There is really no way to predict his quality of opponent but it will be really interesting to see who Joe Silva matches him up with.

I would like to see Tanner vs. Marquardt or Tales leites. Tanner will put them through the fire and we will get to see what level they are truly on by seeing how they match up with Tanner who turns most of his fights into a brutal altercation.

or Maybe Tanner vs. Martin Kampman (who I hear is close to making a full recovery from his injury)

[quote comment=”235658″]I would like to see Tanner vs. Marquardt or Tales leites. Tanner will put them through the fire and we will get to see what level they are truly on by seeing how they match up with Tanner who turns most of his fights into a brutal altercation.

or Maybe Tanner vs. Martin Kampman (who I hear is close to making a full recovery from his injury)[/quote]

As much as I would love to see an Evan Tanner vs. Martin Kampmann, it will not happen yet. Evan still is not in 100%fighting shape and who knows if Martin is as well.

I think they give Evan a giveme (if there is such a thing) possibly a Ross Pointon fighter or something of that caliber.

I would like to see Evan vs. Patrick Cote, but once again that wont happen for Evan’s first fight.

Evan Tanner vs Pisping..give the Brit a reality Check.

The middles need some contenders. Putting two possible top guys together wouldn’t make sense; that was the issue with Franklin vs. McDonald (that fight shouldn’t have happened). When contenders fight each other, you eliminate someone’s potential title shot. Tanner will probably get someone lower than Cote: Kendall Grove or Rory Singer or something.

[quote comment=”236333″]The middles need some contenders. Putting two possible top guys together wouldn’t make sense; that was the issue with Franklin vs. McDonald (that fight shouldn’t have happened). When contenders fight each other, you eliminate someone’s potential title shot. Tanner will probably get someone lower than Cote: Kendall Grove or Rory Singer or something.[/quote]
Contenders have to fight each other at some point. You should have to earn your shot at the title. They certainly don’t need to beat every other top contender out there, but if you use the WW division as an example, Karo should have to fight Fitch to see who would get a title shot after the Serra/Hughes/GSP mess is straightened out.

I think Kendall Grove is more like a 2nd fight for either Tanner or Bisping. I think they still want to market him along with these two guys. Then again, Lesnar is getting Mir in his first UFC fight, so who knows. My guess for the Bisping and Tanner opponents are Belcher and Starnes.

[quote comment=”235099″]Tanner Vs Bisping[/quote]
Good fight. NEVER rule Tanner out

i thnk the ufc should recruit yoshihiro takayama, i mean who doesnt love the “hawtness”?

[quote comment=”235390″]They aren’t going to do that to Bisping. The UFC needs him to succeed and progress, and a fight with Tanner is not likely to advance his career. Both of them will get relatively easy opponents for their first fight at 185.[/quote]

Someone who trains with him in Vegas has said that they already know who his opponent will be but are not allowed to release the name yet. and he said “his opponent is NOT some TUFer, it is a serious, game, opponent.” My guess: OKAMI, MACDONALD, MARQUART…

WROCK ON TANNER, WROCK ON.

[quote comment=”235390″]They aren’t going to do that to Bisping. The UFC needs him to succeed and progress, and a fight with Tanner is not likely to advance his career. Both of them will get relatively easy opponents for their first fight at 185.[/quote]

You never know. A loss by Bisping to Tanner, a former champion, wouldnt hurt his career. As long as he puts up a good fight. They put Forrest against Tito after only three fights, and it didnt hurt his career even though he lost (kinda).

[quote comment=”235458″]Who actually thinks this washup is gonna be able to come even close to anderson silva…. silva is next level right now and the middle weight is trying to catch up to his talent…. he’s untouchable until they bring someone who can come close[/quote]

When are people gonna learn that no one in MMA is untouchable.No one saw the downfall of Chuck, Cro Cop, or St. Pierre coming, but it happened. Im a huge Silva fan but his star will fall evantually and its most likely going to be against an underdog (just look at recent UFC history). Styles make fights and Tanner is a tough vetran who can take a beating and dish one out.

[quote post=”4226″]any guy whose introduction to mma came via instruction videos and fights at the level Evan Tanner does is awesome. [/quote]
Yes, he’s pretty amazing, for being self taught.

[quote post=”4226″]Im glad to see tanner back, but Id have to go with Silva cmon he handled Rich twice. But regardless im glad to see him back and fighting again and all the luck in the world to him [/quote]
True, but Tanner is better in the clinch then Franklin. Even though he lost to Rich, I think he matches up better with Silva. Tanner has some good knees and brutal GnP, which has won him many of fights.

War Tanner! I’m Team Tanner all the way. Okami should be sent home with the DVD so he can see how Tanner put him to sleep. One more big name then its time for Silva. Someone must squash the spider! lol

Ok so I was WRONG about Tanner beating Okami….lol He didn’t look up to his old self and Okami is a beast. I hope Evan really is training as hard as it appears on his website and kick Grove’s ass in June. We shall see. War Tanner!!!!!!