The exact circumstances surrounding Evan Tanner’s final days remain a mystery, one that is tackled in the latest episode of VICE’s Dark Side of the Cage series.
Tanner, a former UFC middleweight champion, died in September 2008 and was found in the California desert. His official cause of death was heat exposure, though questions still remained around why Tanner decided to take his fateful trip out to Imperial County and how the situation escalated to the point of tragedy.
On Wednesday, The Final Days of Evan Tanner explores these questions, and you can watch an exclusive clip from the episode below.
Former UFC champion Evan Tanner died in 2008 and questions still remain about exactly what happened on that fateful September day in the California desert.
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) January 21, 2025
Watch an exclusive clip from @VICETV's newest episode of "Dark Side of the Cage: The Final Days of Evan Tanner" below.
The… pic.twitter.com/I8NGMToFhN
In the clip, Tanner can be seen calling childhood friend Wade Goldstein, who discovers that Tanner is in a bad situation. However, any attempts to reach Tanner afterwards were unsuccessful, and the worst would soon come to pass.
Tanner was a popular UFC fighter during the promotion’s rise in the 2000s. He captured the middleweight title with a first-round TKO of David Terrell at UFC 51, then dropped the belt to Rich Frankling in his first defense. His notable wins include Terrell, Robbie Lawler, Phil Baroni, Elvis Sinosic, and Heath Herring, among others.
He was 37 at the time of his death.
Dark Side of the Cage: The Final Days of Evan Tanner premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on VICE TV.
