UFC 50 Preview
Evan Tanner vs. Robbie Lawler
Oct 22, 2004
Evan Tanner vs. Robbie Lawler
TANNER: Evan Tanner is an American freestyle fighter who was originally self-taught. He now trains with Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, current UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture and the rest of Team Quest. Evan brings a record of 29-4 in MMA competition.
Tanner started training martial arts from books and tapes.
Wrestling quickly became his sport and he won the Texas State
Championships as a junior and senior. He did well in smaller shows
like Steve Nelson's USWF
(which he eventually bought) to get on the Japanese Pancrase
circuit in 1998. Tanner battled UFC veteran Ikuhisa Minowa, en route to
winning his Neo Blood tournament title. Evan split a pair of
matches with Pride veteran Heath Herring and at one time a rubber
match was in the works. He debuted in the UFC in 1999 (the same
year he contemplated leaving the sport to follow Buddha) and has
beaten many quality fighters in the Octagon including Darrell
Gholar, Lance Gibson,
Homer Moore, Elvis Sinosic and Christopher
Haseman.
His first Octagon loss was to Tito Ortiz in a bout for the light heavyweight title at UFC 30. Ortiz secured a body-lock, slammed him to the mat using a belly-to-belly suplex. Tanner's head bounced off the canvas and caught the top of Tito's head, receiving an unintentional head butt and knocking him out. Evan battled Rich Franklin at UFC 42. Franklin was ready for Tanner and knew his stand-up game very well. Rich landed a series of right hands that dropped Tanner to his knees and the referee stepped in before things got worse. And Evan met Phil Baroni twice. The first bout was a messy stoppage due to miscommunication between Baroni and the referee. The rematch was all Tanner as Baroni could do little against the Team Quest fighter.
LAWLER: "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler is a wrestler, boxer and former Tae Kwon Do stylist training with Matt Hughes, Tim Sylvia, Tony Fryklund, Jeremy Horn, Pat Miletich and members of the Miletich Fighting Systems camp as well as boxer Teddy Mullen at Alley Cats Gym. Robbie is 10-2 in MMA and 4-2 in the UFC.
He fought Aaron Riley at UFC 37: High Impact, and won a tough decision in an exciting stand-up battle. Robbie didn't let up in the UFC 37.5 show, punishing Steve Berger and lending credence to his reputation as a quick finisher. At UFC 40, Robbie battled Tiki Ghosn. Ghosn's leg kicks were effective but he was caught with an overhand right and dropped, cutting him as well as resulting in the stoppage.
In April of 2003 Lawler showed signs of being human when Pete Spratt was able to stop the ruthless one with leg kicks. Spratt connected with heavy lower-body strikes and bruised Lawler's legs. One kick in particular took the life out of Lawler's attacks and in the second round Robbie could no longer put weight on the leg. Robbie fought Chris Lytle at UFC 45. He stayed busy and his striking dictated the pace. In round two, Lytle tagged Lawler with a pair of short left hooks and Robbie. In the third period, a short right hand from Lytle connected flush and sets off a series of bizarre mutual appreciation displays. The unanimous decision went to Lawler but there were missed opportunities for Lytle to win. In recent action, Lawler was KO'd by up-and-coming welterweight Nick Diaz.
MY PICK: Tanner. Lawler has always had the potential to KO anyone, but he's unrefined. Robbie is still rough around the edges after three years in the sport and he's perfect bait for a cagey veteran like Tanner. If Evan can withstand the early barrage of strikes, he'll be able to tame the young brute in the clinch and crush his middleweight dreams. Tanner by TKO in round three.
TANNER: Evan Tanner is an American freestyle fighter who was originally self-taught. He now trains with Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, current UFC light heavyweight champion Randy Couture and the rest of Team Quest. Evan brings a record of 29-4 in MMA competition.
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His first Octagon loss was to Tito Ortiz in a bout for the light heavyweight title at UFC 30. Ortiz secured a body-lock, slammed him to the mat using a belly-to-belly suplex. Tanner's head bounced off the canvas and caught the top of Tito's head, receiving an unintentional head butt and knocking him out. Evan battled Rich Franklin at UFC 42. Franklin was ready for Tanner and knew his stand-up game very well. Rich landed a series of right hands that dropped Tanner to his knees and the referee stepped in before things got worse. And Evan met Phil Baroni twice. The first bout was a messy stoppage due to miscommunication between Baroni and the referee. The rematch was all Tanner as Baroni could do little against the Team Quest fighter.
LAWLER: "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler is a wrestler, boxer and former Tae Kwon Do stylist training with Matt Hughes, Tim Sylvia, Tony Fryklund, Jeremy Horn, Pat Miletich and members of the Miletich Fighting Systems camp as well as boxer Teddy Mullen at Alley Cats Gym. Robbie is 10-2 in MMA and 4-2 in the UFC.
He fought Aaron Riley at UFC 37: High Impact, and won a tough decision in an exciting stand-up battle. Robbie didn't let up in the UFC 37.5 show, punishing Steve Berger and lending credence to his reputation as a quick finisher. At UFC 40, Robbie battled Tiki Ghosn. Ghosn's leg kicks were effective but he was caught with an overhand right and dropped, cutting him as well as resulting in the stoppage.
In April of 2003 Lawler showed signs of being human when Pete Spratt was able to stop the ruthless one with leg kicks. Spratt connected with heavy lower-body strikes and bruised Lawler's legs. One kick in particular took the life out of Lawler's attacks and in the second round Robbie could no longer put weight on the leg. Robbie fought Chris Lytle at UFC 45. He stayed busy and his striking dictated the pace. In round two, Lytle tagged Lawler with a pair of short left hooks and Robbie. In the third period, a short right hand from Lytle connected flush and sets off a series of bizarre mutual appreciation displays. The unanimous decision went to Lawler but there were missed opportunities for Lytle to win. In recent action, Lawler was KO'd by up-and-coming welterweight Nick Diaz.
MY PICK: Tanner. Lawler has always had the potential to KO anyone, but he's unrefined. Robbie is still rough around the edges after three years in the sport and he's perfect bait for a cagey veteran like Tanner. If Evan can withstand the early barrage of strikes, he'll be able to tame the young brute in the clinch and crush his middleweight dreams. Tanner by TKO in round three.
