Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

In the time since Evan Tanner tragically passed away, many fans have wondered what they could do to honor his name.

Tanner's family has established a memorial fund which will be used for various causes close to the former middleweight champion's heart, according to Kyria Christison, a close friend of Tanner's.

"I'd say as his family they know a different side to Evan than we do in the MMA community so they are going through his journals and talking to people who knew him so they can absorb as much as they can of what Evan was to others and not just to them," Christison said. "They have been really selfless in all of this and are thinking of others more than they are of themselves. I guess I shouldn't have expected less. They are Evan's family and his foundation was built by them."

Donations can be sent to:

Evan Tanner Memorial Fund
c/o Amarillo National Bank
410 S. Taylor Street
Amarillo, TX 79101

Meanwhile, a celebration of Tanner's life has been scheduled for Sept. 27 in Amarillo, his hometown.

Tanner's loss still reverberates through the MMA community. The UFC dedicated Wednesday's show to him. While some fans have criticized the UFC for lack of a response to his passing, I've been told that the organization has been very supportive of his family behind the scenes where it truly matters.

Tanner passed away in early September while on a solo desert camping trip in a California desert. The ex-UFC middleweight champion is survived by his mother, father, two sisters and one brother.

Strikeforce at the Mansion II
With all the MMA goings-on, don't forget that Saturday night brings a Strikeforce, live from the Playboy Mansion.

It is the second time around in Hugh Hefner's playground for the California-based company after last year's success. This time, current lightweight champ Josh Thomson headlines in a non-title matchup with Ashe Bowman, while other top fighters like Kazuo Misaki, Mitsuhiro Ishida and others will also compete.

The event was supposed to feature a light-heavyweight title match between champ Bobby Southworth and popular challenger Renato "Babalu" Sobral, but both fighters pulled out of the event due to injuries.

The card will be streamed for free on Sherdog.com.

Showtime likely to buy ProElite
The financial troubles of EliteXC parent company ProElite have long been documented, and now it appears that they might be running out of time.

Sherdog.com reports that Showtime Networks has entered into talks to purchase the struggling company. Showtime already owns about 20 percent of ProElite, which airs shows on both Showtime cable and CBS network TV.

The third edition of EliteXC on CBS will be broadcast on Oct. 4, featuring two of the company's biggest draws, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano.

ProElite has racked up around $55 mililon in debt during its two years of operation and has warned of cash flow problems in most of its recent financial filings.

Josh Hedges / Zuffa Rashad Evans sports the infamous Bill Gates mugshot shirt.

Rashad Evans making powerful friends
During UFC 88 a a couple weeks ago, you may have noticed Rashad Evans walk into (and later out of) the ring with a Bill Gates T-shirt on. The shirt is of Gates' mugshot after being arrested as a young adult.

Evans told a radio show earlier this week that the reason he wears the shirt is an inside joke. Gates was arrested in Albuquerque, N.M., in Dec. 1975. At the time, Microsoft was based in Albuquerque, in the building next to the one that currently houses Greg Jackson's MMA, where Evans trains.

Apparently, Evans' shirt — or his knockout over Chuck Liddell — got someone's attention at Microsoft. The current UFC light-heavyweight No. 1 contender is in the company's newest commercial.

Ibarra breaks his silence
SI.com's Josh Gross recently spoke with Rampage Jackson's former trainer Juanito Ibarra.

Earlier this month, Ibarra had been accused of stealing from Jackson by Tito Ortiz, who labeled him a "thief."

Ibarra denied the charges, saying, "I've never done anything I wasn't asked to do, and that's it. I would never take anything from anybody without them giving it to me. Never."

Ibarra claimed that he had no idea why the once-tight relationship between he and Jackson disentegrated, but a source close to the situation told NBCSports.com that the two had a falling-out shortly after Jackson's UFC 86 loss to Forrest Griffin. Jackson has not publicly commented on his reasons for the split.

Jackson is now training with the London-based Wolfslair Gym, where he was joined by Cheick Kongo, also once an Ibarra-trained fighter.

MMA Fight Weekly: Dan Lauzon
This week's show chronicles rising star and brother of UFC fighter Dan Lauzon as he prepares for a recent fight. From the weigh-in to the postfight, hear Dan tell how he gets ready.

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