Once I Was a Champion Page #3

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turning red as a young man.

And I didn't think he was interested,

and a few months later, I got a call

from Evan Tanner, and he was fighting

for me at the beginning of 1997.

And, by the end of 1997, he became

the first USWF heavyweight champion

when we crowned

our first champion,

and he fought

heath herring that night.

There he is.

Down in round six of this

world championship match...

Heavyweight champion

of the world, Evan Tanner.

I was in a tournament, and he fought,

like, one fight later that night.

Probably one

of the best training partners

I had in mixed martial arts

for the next year.

There every day, on time, always learning,

always ready to go, always showed up.

You know, never an excuse.

Never a problem.

Always, no matter what.

He was doing what he had going on,

but, when he was gone, he was gone.

After USWF 16, I decided that I

didn't want to promote anymore,

and Evan was doing

some odd jobs...

laying cable

and doing some different things,

and I got a call from him,

and Evan asked,

"what do you think about me

promoting the USWF?"

So Steve ended up selling it

over to Evan.

Well, Evan, you know,

still wanted to compete,

but he was also intrigued

by the promoting

and thought it would be a good

way he could make a living.

When you're supposed to be getting ready

to fight the main event, you're out

making sure that everything's

going right in the crowd,

you could even be breaking up

a fight in the crowd,

you could... you're handling everything,

you're handling the police,

you're handling

the ticket sales.

Everything that goes on

is your responsibility.

He did everything.

He was so stubborn that he

wouldn't hire a matchmaker.

You know, he did pretty much

most of the sponsorships

with his fianc at the time.

I believe I was the one

constant thing in his life

that he could rely on that

wasn't changing day to day.

So I think he kind of leaned

on me a little bit

to be his wall, his support.

You know, I remember, you know, he was

fighting heavyweight at the time,

and Evan, you know,

I don't think

he ever walked around

or weighed over 205 pounds.

But he's fighting heavyweights.

You know, while guys are in the back

getting ready, you know, he's working.

When it was time to come out and fight,

well, it's time to come out and fight.

Drops what he does, goes

in there, fights, wins.

Afterwards, he's walking around

still in his trunks,

you know, no shirt on,

collecting money from vendors and,

you know, sponsors that came in.

Guy did it all.

If Evan Tanner wanted

to make a lot of money

and acquire a lot of material

things, Evan Tanner was smart.

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