ufc 38 evan tanner interview : SFUK's mixed martial arts reports

Evan Tanner seems to be one of the quiet giants of the UFC with an MMA record of 14-2-0. His understated performances show great G'n'P displays from the top such as in his fight with Elvis Sinosic, or wiley submissions from the bottom such as the armbar that he beat Homer Moore with. Evan changed his training earlier this year and is now training with Team Quest, which is beginning to show in his improved stand up grappling. The day after this interview he went on to beat tough Australian Chris Haseman, a last minute replacement for Matyushenko. Evan struggled in the first to take down Haseman, later commenting that he felt tired that round, but went on to give a textbook demostration of versatile striking on the ground utilising his fists, forearms and knees from a variety of positions. It must be noted that Chris Haseman, although dominated in the latter half of the fight, showed an incredible amount of heart and courage in his performance by not giving up when others would have.

JB. Evan, last time I met you was in Las Vegas when you beat Elvis Sinosic openning him up with elbows in the first round. Since then I understand you've had a bit of time off due to a rib injury?

Evan Tanner : Yeah, two weeks before that fight I separated a rib and thought I got it back in place. I'd never had an injury like that so I didn't know much about it. I thought I'd popped it back in place and that would be fine but it popped out three other times. I had to take the last bit off and really train light, and even going into the fight the rib was still separated so I had to shoot it up with lythocaine (sp???) and just go in there and try to tough it out. I ended up winning the fight and didn't get into any positions where it stressed the rib or anything. After that I had to take off a few months to let it heal up before I started training again.

JB. You were originally scheduled to fight Vladamir Matyushenko, of course he's taken an injury lately so you're having to fight a last minute replacement. How do you feel about that? Does it throw your gameplan or throw your training out any?

Evan Tanner : No, it didn't really throw the gameplan off or anything, we're still going to go in there... We prepared for Vladamir who's a very good wrestler, bigger than me so we trained hard for that and we were ready for Vladamir. Chris Haseman stepped in last second after Vladamir got hurt at a week and a half notice. The gameplan's still the same. You have to give Chris Haseman a lot of credit for getting in there at the last second. He hasn't had a lot of time to prepare but he has a lot of experience so even though he hasn't had time to prepare he's going to be dangerous. He's a big strong guy, he has some skills so he's going to be dangerous. We're just going to go in there with the same gameplan and try to keep the pressure high and win the fight. I don't want the decision.

JB. What do you think about the UFC coming to the UK and how do you feel about being on the card?

Evan Tanner : Back when I first heard about it I thought 'well I really want to be on that show, I'd really like to go to the UK and check it out'. I think it's great, I think it's a great step for the UFC, I think the sports going to be very popular over here. I'm glad to be on the break out show and it's exciting.

JB. Anything else that you want to say?

Evan Tanner : I guess that's it. I'd like to say hi to the new fans in the UK and hopefully there'll be a lot more after tomorrow night's show. Hopefully, I'll be back to do some fighting here.