Evan Tanner is a veteran of Mixed Martial Arts.  Now 37 years old, Tanner has been fighting for over a decade.  Coming off a loss, Tanner will fight in this Saturday's The Ultimate Fighter Finale at the Palms casino in Las Vegas.  Tanner will face-off against Kendall Grove, a highly-touted former winner of The Ultimate Fighter, who is also coming off a couple losses.  The bout is one of the main events for the evening, and one of the only ones not involving fighters from this season of The Ultimate Fighter.  Recently, we sat down and talked to Tanner, who discussed his time in the UFC, how he's preparing for his fight with Grove, and his thoughts on Kimbo Slice. 

Below you will find both the full transcript of the interview as well as the mp3 audio. 

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on the punishing turn of events that sent two former UFC champions down in dramatic fashion on the Octagon at UFC 84.  Tito Ortiz and Sean Sherk each received well-placed powerful knee hits from their opponents to effectively quell any further resistance from them.

At Saturday's UFC 85: Bedlam in London, former middleweight titleholder, Matt Hughes, found himself on the same unenviable end of Thiago Alves' flying knee early into the second round of their match.  Followed by a few more strikes on the mat, Hughes succumbed to the onslaught just a little over a minute into the said round of their main event draw.

This season has gone fast, hasn't it?  In a far more accelerated TV schedule than fans of The Ultimate Fighter are used, most episodes featured two fights, as opposed to the strict one fight per episode mandate of previous seasons.  Perhaps the UFC editors didn't find these season's crop of fighter's all that exciting, maybe it was just a little experiment by Dana White and/or SpikeTV.   Tonight's episode featured the first semi-final fight of the season, between Tim Credeur and Jesse Taylor.

It's no secret to the mixed martial arts world that Tito Ortiz, the UFC light heavyweight champion from April 2000 to September 2003, is planning to leave the Octagon where he emerged as one of the sport's biggest stars.  With the looming inaugural of Affliction Banned, a mixed martial arts event co-promoted by the Affliction Clothing and Adrenaline MMA, word on the street is that Ortiz has been invited to join the slate.

Now, it's official.  Donald Trump, real estate tycoon and Affliction MMA investor confirmed during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York that he's coming after the legendary UFC star.

We begin the final quarterfinals episode of The Ultimate Fighter with everyone impressed by last week's fight between Matt Brown and Amir Sadollah. It truly was a very good fight, a lot of action, neither guy backing down. Jeremy May, right after the fight, wants a rematch with Matt Brown in the finale...or something. It's difficult to comprehend the gall May shows, or what he's done to even think that he'll be invited back for any UFC event. Matt Brown thought it was disrespectful, and the conversation continues inside the house – Jesse Taylor talks loud smack about May and continues to when May himself walks into the room. Jeremy tells Gerald that he wants to piss Jesse off so he'll hit him and then have to be sent home.

Redemption wasn't to be for veteran UFC great, Tito Ortiz.  Two weeks ago, we brought you a story leading into UFC 84, about Ortiz's match-up against rising fighter, Lyoto Machida.  Ortiz, once the undisputed king of the Light Heavyweight class, was looking to prove himself still a worthy UFC draw.

In the main fight card, the World Lightweight championship was on the line for B.J. Penn to defend against a hungry and vindictive Sean Sherk, who was raring to reclaim the title he contends was wrongly stripped from him in the first place.  Sadly, for the battle-worn old guard and the wounded soldier, UFC 84 at the MGM Grand brought no vindication but only humiliation and heartbreak.

The episode begins with Dana White informing Forest Griffin that, since he has two quarterfinal matches in which two of his own fighters face off, he has to choose who he corners and who goes over to Rampage's team.  Forest doesn't want to choose, so they flip a coin.  Dante Rivera and Matt Brown end up going over to Team Rampage – Jesse Taylor and Amir Sadollah stick with Team Forest.

The first quarterfinal match is between Jesse Taylor and Dante Rivera.  Jesse and Dante have become good friends in the house, but neither are reserved about the possibility about beating the crap out of each other.  Jesse, it turns out, is a freak of nature – he east terribly, yet keeps his physique easily and has no problem cutting weight at the drop of a hat.  We reach fight day minutes into the episode.

Tonight on The Ultimate Fighter, we may have seen the the eventual Ultimate Fighter winner.  CB Dalloway looks like he has exactly what a UFC fighter needs.  He is extremely proficient technically.  He was an All-American wrestler in college.  He also has a huge ego.  He is confident almost to a fault.  I'd be willing to argue that this is very important for an MMA fighter.  Tonight's Ultimate Fighter featured the final first round fight, plus the fight announcements for the Quarterfinals. 

After the Cale Yarbrough/Patrick Schultz fight, Rampage yells at Griffin.  He's mad at the decision that kept Schultz from getting a third round against Cale.  Forest, pissed that Rampage called him out after Cale's win, breaks down the door to his room with his bare hands.  After awhile he cools down.