Report: Evan Tanner vs. Yushin Okami at UFC 82
December 27, 2007 by Adam Morgan
According to a report at MMA Mania, Evan Tanner will be making his return to the Octagon on March 1st, 2008 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio against UFC middleweight contender Yushin Okami.
So much for warm-up fights. Okami is among the best middlweights in the world right now and is a huge challenge for a guy, in Evan Tanner, who hasn’t fought in over a year. Why would the UFC give Tanner such a tough fight for his comeback? It’s understandable that Tanner wants to fight the best in the world. Real competitors want real competition. But Yushin Okami? Tanner is scrappy, but there aren’t a lot of reasons to pick him in this fight.
I think they are giving Okami one more chance to be interesting, cause he has “beat” Silva and they need someone that they can put against him beside Franklin. There is no one else in the division
agree with joey. wasn’t the rumor Tanner vs. Lutter for a while? Isn’t lutter fighting super heavyweight for Rumble in the Cage on the Fire Rock or some shit?
Tanner has better stand up…
Tanner should be able to avoid the takedown…
Okami starts slow…
Tanner by decision.
I think Okami is going to make him cry and walk out of the octagon. Like that scene in the royal tennenbaums when he quits the tennis match.
Okami is not super exciting to watch but atleast he has been fighting recently and comes ready to fight..
Whats tanner been doing?? Fixing his life??
I get the feeling that the fight was offered to Tanner and he accepted it to prove a point. Maybe it’s part of his new life. I wouldn’t be surprised if he accepted the match-up just to prove to himself he can still do it in the fight game. Hell, if he wins he’ll most likely keep that new drive inside of him to climb back to the top. If he loses…well…that’ll probably be the end of Evan Tanner as a fighter. Hopefully, it won’t be his self destruction.
Just emailed Evan about this and he said he “Can’t comment on that”. Should post the full interview in the next day or two.