UFC 82: Evan Tanner to fight in Columbus, Ohio

MMAmania.com (www.mmamania.com) recently learned that former middleweight champion Evan Tanner (32-6) will return to the Octagon at UFC 82 in Columbus, Ohio, at the Nationwide Arena on March 2.

No opponent has been named.

Tanner — who will be 37 years old on fight night — has not competed since a submission win (triangle choke) over Justin Levens at UFC 59: “Reality Check” in April 2006. He recently signed a four-fight contract extension to return to action and provide some much-needed depth and experience to a relatively talent-shallow 185-pound division.

http://mmamania.com/2007/12/15/ufc-82-evan-tanner-to-fight-in-columbus-ohio-exclusive/

excited to see tanner fight again, him and bisping bring a much needed boost to the middleweight divison. i really hope tanner can regain old form because he was one of the toughest guys out there and a very easy guy to root for.

If both come in at peak condition it should be a war.

If he's fighting Bisping.

I am going to try like hell to make it to this card in March. It looks as of now that the middleweights will be on showcase that night. There is a probably MW title fight between Silva and Hendo, and now we have Tanner on the card. This is also probably about the time that Bisping will make his debut at MW. It should be a good card.

FINALLY, im a huge tanner fan, and i cant wait to see where hes at physically and mentally with all the problems hes had.

I've never been a big fan of his, but I'm glad to see he's staightening his life out to rejoin his career. He's good and has a lot of exp. Those are two things MW is lackin right now. He can prob'ly beat everyone out side of AS Rich and Bisping, and I'm not saying he can't beat them they're just the bigger maybes. I think him and Okami would be a great first fight, but he may get a warmup.

Cool. I've always liked Evan. He's the "blue collar" fighter. You better bring you lunch pail if you're fighting him

---

Posted by JimiMak

I've never been a big fan of his, but I'm glad to see he's staightening his life out to rejoin his career. He's good and has a lot of exp. Those are two things MW is lackin right now. He can prob'ly beat everyone out side of AS Rich and Bisping, and I'm not saying he can't beat them they're just the bigger maybes. I think him and Okami would be a great first fight, but he may get a warmup.

---

How do you figure that he can't beat Bisbing? Bisbing is a joke, there is nothing about the guy that stands out. Tanner would finish him in under around. Although I do agree Silva and Franklin would be pushing it.

Jason Macdonald for the opponent

---

Posted by jakeiceman

---

Posted by JimiMak

I've never been a big fan of his, but I'm glad to see he's staightening his life out to rejoin his career. He's good and has a lot of exp. Those are two things MW is lackin right now. He can prob'ly beat everyone out side of AS Rich and Bisping, and I'm not saying he can't beat them they're just the bigger maybes. I think him and Okami would be a great first fight, but he may get a warmup.

---

How do you figure that he can't beat Bisbing? Bisbing is a joke, there is nothing about the guy that stands out. Tanner would finish him in under around. Although I do agree Silva and Franklin would be pushing it.

---

I think you're takin two things for granted that may or may not be true

1)That he won't have lost a beat w/ all the stuff he's had goin on
2)Bisping won't be any better at MW than LHW

You could be right, I think it'll take him a bit to get back in top form.

---

Posted by jakeiceman

---

Posted by JimiMak

I've never been a big fan of his, but I'm glad to see he's staightening his life out to rejoin his career. He's good and has a lot of exp. Those are two things MW is lackin right now. He can prob'ly beat everyone out side of AS Rich and Bisping, and I'm not saying he can't beat them they're just the bigger maybes. I think him and Okami would be a great first fight, but he may get a warmup.

---

How do you figure that he can't beat Bisbing? Bisbing is a joke, there is nothing about the guy that stands out. Tanner would finish him in under around. Although I do agree Silva and Franklin would be pushing it.

---

Bisping is a joke? He has one loss on his record and he's a joke?

Get a grip man.

glad to see him back, hope he has success in the ufc,

Funny. There is a lot of talent at the 185 weight division...but not all of them fight in the UFC.

---

Posted by moob

---

Posted by jakeiceman

---

Posted by JimiMak

I've never been a big fan of his, but I'm glad to see he's staightening his life out to rejoin his career. He's good and has a lot of exp. Those are two things MW is lackin right now. He can prob'ly beat everyone out side of AS Rich and Bisping, and I'm not saying he can't beat them they're just the bigger maybes. I think him and Okami would be a great first fight, but he may get a warmup.

---

How do you figure that he can't beat Bisbing? Bisbing is a joke, there is nothing about the guy that stands out. Tanner would finish him in under around. Although I do agree Silva and Franklin would be pushing it.

---

Bisping is a joke? He has one loss on his record and he's a joke?

Get a grip man.

---

Jason Reinhardt has 1 loss and is a joke, tho like Bisping he fought foolishly in a higher weight division and would do much better and be perceived better in his true weight class

But Bisping still is a very average fighter and would be destroyed by Tanner! God i cant take seeing Brits defending and talking up Bisping, just let it go and get behind someone with true potential like JT or Semtex!

---

Posted by CornishMMA

---

Posted by moob

---

Posted by jakeiceman

---

Posted by JimiMak

I've never been a big fan of his, but I'm glad to see he's staightening his life out to rejoin his career. He's good and has a lot of exp. Those are two things MW is lackin right now. He can prob'ly beat everyone out side of AS Rich and Bisping, and I'm not saying he can't beat them they're just the bigger maybes. I think him and Okami would be a great first fight, but he may get a warmup.

---

How do you figure that he can't beat Bisbing? Bisbing is a joke, there is nothing about the guy that stands out. Tanner would finish him in under around. Although I do agree Silva and Franklin would be pushing it.

---

Bisping is a joke? He has one loss on his record and he's a joke?

Get a grip man.

---

Jason Reinhardt has 1 loss and is a joke, tho like Bisping he fought foolishly in a higher weight division and would do much better and be perceived better in his true weight class

But Bisping still is a very average fighter and would be destroyed by Tanner! God i cant take seeing Brits defending and talking up Bisping, just let it go and get behind someone with true potential like JT or Semtex!

---

You seriously reckon that Tanner who hasn't fought in years, and 'issues' of late (no harm to the guy, I like him) would destroy Bisping?

Oh and, a lot of Brits do support Bisping, imagine that with him being one of the only decent fighters from the UK with good exposure, almost as much as the US fans dislike him, looks like that's another bandwagon you've jumped on 'dude'.

Couple that with the rest of your rant, it appears you need to lay off the weed Cornish.

Edit: James Thompson, this guy with the potential you've commended, unless of course you're being sarcastic - his last 10 fights records makes some pretty funny reading:

Notable wins: Don Frye (I mean, that guy was a hero, but he's 42 now - 42!)

Notable losses: Butterbean (I mean FFS) 10 sec KO.

arguing makes me

glad to see tanner on that card and cant wait to see his return