"He thinks differently" - Former training partner reveals UFC legend's superstitious routine ahead of fights

A former training partner of a UFC legend recently disclosed some of the superstitions latter had ahead of his bouts. He noted that the former middleweight champion was ahead of his time in certain aspects, but also continued to do things if they were successful.

Former middleweight champion Evan Tanner was the focus of the latest episode of VICE TV's 'Dark Side of the Cage', where his career and unfortunate passing was discussed. The episode brought to light several aspects of Tanner's career and philosophy on life that fans might not have been aware of.

Following the episode, VICE TV uploaded a clip from their 'Deeper Into the Cage' conversations recapping what was disclosed in the episode. In a clip uploaded to VICE TV's Instagram account, Tanner's former training partner and friend Malachy Friedman disclosed that the former middleweight champion had a superstitious routine involving Mountain Dew.

Friedman mentioned that the UFC legend would consume a significant amount, which wouldn't be considered ideal and continued doing so because it worked for him:

"[Tanner was] definitely a different guy when it comes to the world in general. So, like, training and doing different stuff like that, he's interesting but more so his path of training. He had a routine that he drank a two gallon Mountain Dew every weekend before fights. It was like...'Don't stop whatever you're doing', that was his phrase. If you're drinking two gallons of Mountain Dew, don't stop drinking two gallons of Mountain Dew."

Check out Malachy Friedman's comments regarding Evan Tanner below:

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Former UFC champion Evan Tanner was ahead of trends with his diet

In addition to disclosing a superstitious routine, Evan Tanner's former training partner Malachy Friedman opened up about the UFC legend being ahead of trends as it pertained to his diet.

During the aforementioned clip, Friedman mentioned that Tanner was knowledgeable on the paleo diet long before it was a popular trend:

"I think [Tanner] was...cutting edge on paleo, which he's like, 'Hey, sometimes you're gonna eat fish, sometimes you're not'. So sometimes we just ate greens and nuts and then sometimes we caught a fish like, theoretically caught a fish. And it's like, 'Oh, well, we don't have fire, so you have to eat the fish raw'. So, some interesting stuff like that for sure."

Check out the trailer for Evan Tanner's 'Dark Side of the Cage' episode below: