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Sherdog.com Preview: UFC 59 “Reality Check” Part I

Evan Tanner vs. Justin Levens

TANNER: American Evan Tanner (Pictures) has a professional record of 31-6 in MMA competition. Until recently, Tanner trained with former UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture (Pictures), middleweight contender Matt Lindland (Pictures) and the rest of Team Quest.

A conflict over management and money led to Tanner leaving the team and once again becoming a “ronin” warrior in a sport dominated by strong camps. For two months he has been training with Chute Boxe USA’s head trainer Roberto Piccinini and Jorge Oliveira (Pictures).

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Tanner started training using books and tapes and is one of the few successful self-taught fighters in the sport. He won the Texas State Championships in wrestling as a junior and senior and fought well in smaller shows like the PSDA and USWF (which he eventually bought) before turning to the Japan’s Pancrase circuit.

Evan defeated UFC veteran Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures), American Justin McCully and Pancrase star Kousei Kubota (Pictures) to win his debut tournament, the 1998 Neo Blood. In 1999, the same year Tanner contemplated leaving the sport to follow Buddha, he defeated Darrell Gholar at UFC 18. A year later he finished Lance Gibson at UFC 29.

His first Octagon loss was to Tito Ortiz (Pictures) for the light heavyweight title at UFC 30. Ortiz applied a bodylock and slammed Tanner to the mat but he caught the top of Tito’s head and was knocked out.

Evan went on to defeat Homer Moore (Pictures), Elvis Sinosic (Pictures) and Chris Haseman (Pictures) before meeting Rich Franklin (Pictures) for the first time at UFC 42. Rich landed a series of right hands that dropped Tanner to his knees and the referee stepped in before things got worse. Evan has defeated PRIDE competitor Phil Baroni (Pictures) twice in the Octagon. The first time there was a controversial stoppage involving referee Larry Landless (Pictures) but the rematch left little doubt as Tanner took a unanimous decision.

Evan submitted Robbie Lawler (Pictures) at UFC 50 via triangle choke and faced grappling prodigy David Terrell (Pictures) for the title at UFC 51. It took just one round for Tanner to show he deserved his shot as he put a hurt on Terrell and became the new UFC middleweight champion.

It took an absolute war for Tanner to give up the title. He met Rich Franklin (Pictures) for the second time at UFC 53 but this time the middleweight strap was on the line. In a grueling four-and-a-half-round battle of wills (mostly Tanner’s to stay in the fight), the doctor had seen enough and called a halt to the action making Franklin the UFC middleweight champion. In his most recent appearance, Tanner was stopped by Canadian striker David Loiseau (Pictures) late in the second round due to a bad cut.

LEVENS: Vale Tudo stylist Justin Levens (Pictures) carries a record of 7-1 in MMA. He trains with Erik Apple (Pictures), Eric Tavares (Pictures), Antoine Jaoude (Pictures), Marco Ruas (Pictures) and the rest of the Ruas Vale Tudo, as well as members of the Apex Jiu-Jitsu Team including Jeremy Williams, Alex Serdyukov (Pictures), Russ Miura (Pictures) and Adam Lynn (Pictures).

Levens began training Vale Tudo when he was 16 years old. At 18 he stopped training to enlist in the Navy and after four years away, he returned to training with more emphasis on Muay Thai. That’s also when he began training with Jeremy Williams and the athletes at Apex.

He started fighting in 2004 in Total Combat and stopped his opponent with strikes in the first round. In fact, Levens would go on to win five of his first seven bouts with strikes. Known as a fast finisher, Justin is very proud of the fact that all eight of his bouts (including the loss) ended in the first round.

Last March he finished Tosh Cook (Pictures) via triangle choke at Gladiator Challenge 35 and submitted Tony Lopez (Pictures) in his World Extreme Cagefighting debut last May.

“The Executioner” slammed Chute Boxe fighter Jorge Oliveira (Pictures) unconscious at WEC 17 and then faced WEC light heavyweight champion Scott Smith (Scott Smith' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) in January. It was Levens’ biggest competition to date and it didn’t go as anticipated. “Hands of Steel” Smith knocked out Levens in less than two minutes.

MY PICK: Tanner. Levens is a dangerous opponent but not very experienced. Tanner was preparing for Jeremy Horn (Pictures) so he probably expected to play more of a submission defense game. With Levens, the cage experience isn’t there and neither is the depth of game. As mentioned above all of Levens’ fights have ended in the first round. He’s never been in the ring more than four minutes so Tanner needs to weather the early storm and wait to see what kind of stamina Levens has. Maybe Justin is that good and he simply hasn’t needed to go longer to finish his seven opponents. Then again maybe not. Just don’t forget Tanner’s razor-sharp elbows. Chances are you’ll be reacquainted with them Saturday night. Tanner by TKO in the second round.

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