Evan Tanner, R.I.P.

MMA fighter, and former UFC middleweight champ Evan Tanner died yesterday at age 37.

From a fighting aspect, I always liked Tanner's style. He would stand in the pocket with anyone, and was always very relaxed on the ground, not leaping at the first chance to try and take someone's back, but rather patiently looking to extend the punishment before opponents retreated to their guard. Unfortunately as he got older, it was his younger, quicker opponents getting that big shot in during the stand up exchanges.

He was likely just as well known in recent years for his Internet presence. I remember T-Bone showing me Tanner's gallery of hilarious MySpace photos (no longer there), and Tanner would go on to be a pretty prolific blogger. His posts were often painfully personal, some detailing his struggles with alcohol, but always somehow positive as well. In addition to regular MySpace posts he frequently updated his own Web site with news of his plans and projects, and worked as a regular blogger for Spike TV. His honesty and good-naturedness might have won him more fans than his fighting, actually.

His early death would be tragic no matter the cause, but I was at least glad to see it was nothing related to his personal demons. He enjoyed exploring the outdoors, something I'm not surprised he enjoyed considering his life outlook and recent Grizly Adams appearance. RIP.

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In other MMA news, Chuck Liddell sat at one of the featured tables during one of tonight's World Series of Poker broadcasts. Acting as if he just learned to play hours previous, he somehow still took a big pot off a pro Mark Seif (Seif's fault) and caught a lucky two-pair in a hand he should not have been in, but was bounced when his (lack of) skill caught up to his luck and he went all-in when he should definitely not have.

Oh, and Phil Helmuth came in dressed as Patton, or something. And while he said he wanted to go to Afghanistan to visit the troops, there was apparently no reason for the uniformed entrance. Unless I missed something while watching the Phillies. It was humorous, though.

Oh oh, and Phil Laak was disguised as an old man, in a Spike Jones-style make-up job. Again, for no reason.

When all you do is play poker, I guess it helps to liven it up once in a while.

Fedor is quietly amused, and will break you

UFC President Dana White, always quotable, and yet not afraid to talk out of his ass on occasion (or several), called Fedor Emelianenko "completely (expletive) irrelevant" at a press conference announcing the UFC 91 match between Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture, returning to UFC having settled his legal dispute with White and the organization.

OK, let's back up a sec. Yes, it's good news Couture will be back in an octagon, ring or whatever, so long as he's fighting. And as his departure from UFC as the heavyweight champ left a sour taste, it's good he'll be fighting for the belt right away again (read the story for those details). And the Lesnar match is a great one — a physically imposing opponent billed as the next big thing. Would love to see Randy take him to school. Especially in light of Lesnar's whining about Fedor.

Which brings us back to ... Irrelevant? Did White not see Fedor dispatch former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in about 20 seconds in his last fight? White has maybe fairly criticized Fedor in recent years for not facing any top fighters, but I had no doubt he was still the best. I don't think White did either, but he certainly shouldn't now.

I'm just a little bummed this will mean a Fedor/Couture fight will wait that much longer, and Randy isn't getting any younger. White was implying the Affliction promotion that Fedor is contracted to is in financial trouble (possible bullshit, who knows). If so, Fedor/Couture could happen sooner, but it's still a ways off. Actually, after reading Lesnar's nonsense, I'd love to see Fedor take him apart first.

But let it be said — Fedor is a bad man. Don't believe me? Get thee to YouTube. He trains by hitting tires with a sledge hammer, his mere presence makes children cry, and King King would tap.

Obliging Randy Couture

Hulu went live, last week I think. Has high quality clips from TV shows and movies, as well as web stuff. Also has full TV episodes and movies, so if you're a Bob Newhart Show fan but don't want to commit to the DVDs, you've got episodes here. Not sure if they last forever, or how often new seasons are added.

There are ads, which can be annoying while going through Conan O'Brien clips, but they're not as bad as boradcast ads if watching a TV episode, only 30 seconds a shot.

UPDATE: Hmmm, embedded videos rather wide as you can see, and unresponsive to my HTML adjustments. So they may show up wonky if embedding.

82 skadoo

Henderson vs. Silva for the combined UFC and Pride 185 lb. titles should be an awesome fight Saturday (EDIT: March 1!). Henderson may be the only guy on the planet who can beat Silva right now. Lots of other good fighters on the UFC 82 card, including some big names in the fights not scheduled to air which is a little weird.

Fight of the year?

Everyone's fight of the year lists will be coming out in the coming weeks, and Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida at the Dec. 8 Ultimate Fighter Finale will definitely be a candidate. I've been getting kinda jaded on UFC lately, but this was a great fight. I like Huerta, but I had to respect Guida walking (running?) to the ring with Refused's "New Noise" playing, and he was into it. As it started I just wanted to see a good fight. They complied.
Another great fight on the card was Jon "War Machine" Koppenhaver vs. Jared "J-Roc" Rollins.

Spike reruns their fights all the time, and I see it's on Friday and Saturday, so check it out if you haven't seen.