Tanner “TannerBJJ” Rhoden Interview
10-27-09





Chris Hansen is the host of the ‘Dateline NBC” television segment “To Catch a Predator.” These investigations revolved around catching potential Internet sex predators using a sting operation. While filming a segment in the Los Angeles County area today got a surprise visitor, none other than former shercunt/owner of sherdog.com Tanner “TannerBJJ” Rhoden. Tanner had fallen into obscurity since Jeff Sherwood betrayed him. Since then he had failed to start his own MMA website to rival sherdog’s, arrested and treated for illegal drug possession, stalked MMA fighter Debbie Percell, and most seriously molested his own 5 year old son in 2004, whom he fathered with a post-op transexual known as “Dave Hojak.” Until today he had eluded capture, but was met with a surprise when he tried to meet an under 18 boy he met in a chat room.


TannerBJJ: Hi, I’m here to see Steve.
Anonymous Man: Hi, I’m Steve nice to meet you. WOW, I’m so horny and you’re so hot just wait here I’ll be back with some beer. You’d like to share a beer with me right?
TannerBJJ: You know it baby, I’ll be right here in the kitchen.
Little did he know Chris Hansen and the Dateline crew were waiting in the next room

Chris Hansen: Hello son nice to see you, I’m Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC. Why don’t you have a seat over there?
TannerBJJ: What the fuck! Who are you and where’s Steve?!!!
Chris Hansen: You don’t know who I am obviously, but just be warned any attempt to run will be met with consequences. So I’ll be doing the talking here.
TannerBJJ: (gulp) Ummm…..OK.
Chris Hansen: I understand that you came here to meet with a 15 year old boy named Steve that you met in a chat room. Can you tell me what you were intending to do?
TannerBJJ: Oh you know…we were going to see a movie and maybe have diner…it was pure and good old male bonding.
Chris Hansen: So you weren’t intending for any sexual favors?
TannerBJJ: No not at all I’m completely straight I love vaginas.
Chris Hansen: And you didn’t intend to drink with someone under 21 were you?
TannerBJJ: Nah…I know he’s too young but hey I can’t help myself hahahaha
Chris Hansen: I don’t see what’s funny.
TannerBJJ: Sorry.
Chris Hansen: Yet just a second ago Steve asked you to drink with him and you said yes did you not?
TannerBJJ: Hell no! I thought he was asking me for some not him.
Chris Hansen: We got you on tape Mr. Rhoden.
TannerBJJ: Taken out of context.
Chris Hansen: And we got some saved documents taken off the chat room. In it you clearly state “Virgin sex is very painful…why not let me bring some lube to make your ass not scream as much.”
TannerBJJ: I thought I was talking to Allison my wife.
Chris Hansen: Our records show that you’re not married.
TannerBJJ: I told you I like women and I am married!
Chris Hansen: Don’t insult me Mr. Rhoden. I also have records from a sherdog.com where on a thread dating back to 2002 you confess to being homosexual, in it you state “When I was 15 I went on a date with my first love Nancy. It was a wonderful night and I even got a kiss from her, but it was not what I expected…I felt strange. I asked if I could kiss her again and she let me. Still I felt nothing…terrified I grabbed her breasts…she then slapped me and told me never to come near her again. That’s when I realized it….I was gay.” Yet you deleted it when you got little support from the sherdog members did you not?
TannerBJJ: How did you find that?!!! I deleted that long ago!
Chris Hansen: We got our methods.
TannerBJJ: C’mon, I was joking. I mean at the time I was in a feud with a group called Anti-Sherdog’s. I gave sherdog money to help him and kill them off. I even paid sherdog to kick off kagemusha, who I really hated. I thought if I posted that I’d just jerk them around a bit and laugh.
Chris Hansen: This is no laughing matter Mr. Rhoden. Other men on that forum claimed to have had sex with you as well, including Taylor Wilson [Carnal Salvation], Bill Elder, Joe Ortiz [LeiTong], Steve Pell [too many to name], and Jeff Sherwood himself. None of those I can assure you are women.
TannerBJJ: Hey…there’s no crime for being gay.
Chris Hansen: Then why did you repeatedly deny it for the last few minutes?
TannerBJJ: I thought you wouldn’t understand…I mean I find you sexy as well.
Chris Hansen: Let’s not go there Mr. Rhoden. This man was claiming to be 15 years old. And here on this webcam image clearly shows you stroking your genitals and writing into the chatbox “this will be in your mouth soon Steve…Oh Steve Oh Oh Steve….swallow it all.” Do you still deny this?
TannerBJJ: …..C’mon there are a lot of bad people on the internet and I was just trying to teach him that. I was never going to have sex with him I just wanted to let him know not to have sex with anyone over 18.
Chris Hansen: Once again don’t insult me Mr. Rhoden.
TannerBJJ: I’m not! I’m 100% telling the truth I don’t know what else I got to fucking tell you!
Chris Hansen: Keep your voice down or else this could get uglier for you. We also found out that you have quite a criminal rap sheet when we dug into your past. You bribed website hosts and forums of your competitors, including Anti-Sherdog’s, and got them shut down…this could have been ugly if one of them ever brought you to court. And then you had a son with someone who refers to himself as Dave Hojak and he filed charges back in 2004 that you molested him. I see that you evaded arrest since.
TannerBJJ: That’s not true! I am Dave Hojak it was all a joke I also created numerous other aliases to attract website traffic. It was a lot of work but I turned sherdog into the mecca and he fucking betrayed me…I turned to drugs and hit rock bottom I admit that but I am innocent of those charges I swear.
Chris Hansen: According to this Dave Hojak you forced him/her to change it’s name and then put it through a long period of spousal abuse. I see you got enough problems besides the drugs and sex crimes. You were also charged with stalking MMA fighter Debbie Percell.
TannerBJJ: Once again not true. I felt that Debbie would get me straight again because she was a mastadonian woman and I felt she's close enough to being a man, she wrongfully filed those charges against me. And those assault charges were from Anti-Sherdog members telling everyone I got into a bitch-slap fight with Dave.
Chris Hansen: Then why have you not come forward and faced your charges like a man?
TannerBJJ: Cause I’m scared….I felt like I wouldn’t be given a fair trial…I am a man but sometimes I feel like I was meant to be a woman but am trapped in this man’s body.
Chris Hansen: You do know that I have been recording this entire conversation and it is full of multiple contradictions on your part. But moving forward, what exactly were you doing with your 5 year old son the night of the alleged incident?
TannerBJJ: I was playing the worlds’ smallest violin with him.
Chris Hansen: What exactly is that?
TannerBJJ: Use your imagination cause it’s playing the worlds’ saddest song for you right now.
Chris Hansen: You seem to not be a popular person Mr. Rhoden. I have interviewed many people from both Anti-Sherdog’s, sherdog’s, and other MMA websites who said they either want to kill you, beat you up, etc. They all said you never accepted any of their challenges to fight them and even ratted them out to their gym claiming harassment. Seems like you’ve been running a lot these past few years.
TannerBJJ: Yeah, I felt like I had enough money to take care of myself. Once again I fear for my life…this is the crap I’ve had to put up with since that night. Anti-Sherdog once told me after I shut down his website that he was going to meet me at UFC 37.5 and beat my ass. I actually cancelled my plane tickets and hotel reservations but still told him I’d be there to look good in front of sherdog’s. Even Sugar Jay asked for a formal challenge. I said I accepted but then got his gym masters to tone him down, once again to look good infront of sherdog’s
Chris Hansen: Despite all the troubles you encountered and caused you couldn’t keep off the chat room for homosexual men and on top of it went after one so obviously under age boy.
TannerBJJ: I told you just like those challenges to Anti’s gang I wasn’t serious.
Chris Hansen: Then why do you do these things Mr. Rhoden?
TannerBJJ: I got problems OK! I can’t let them hurt my ego or I might just hang myself…like when I created GlobalMMA to rival sherdog’s. I just needed to know I wasn’t totally beat.
Chris Hansen: I think that’s all I need you are free to leave Mr. Rhoden.
TannerBJJ: That’s all? Oh shit! You scared the hell out of me you jack ass! Well have fun with your TV show I hope it fails like GlobalMMA did for me.

Unknown to Tanner, 10 armed police officers were outside waiting for him. Upon seeing them he tried to run but was hunted down and handcuffed.
TannerBJJ: Oh god! Please let me go….I’ll give you money….my dad is rich…any amount you want I’ll pay it….please I don’t want to go to jail (crying)
Cop 1: Don’t worry son…where you're going you’ll get all the manly love you crave.
Tanner is currently awaiting his trail date and is being held without bail.