It's 2:30am here, been a long, emotional day as you can imagine. Been getting a lot of questions about the fight through Twitter/Facebook/etc. I hope to get around to writing about the fight eventually but I figure this is a good spot to aggregate questions/comments so I can get around to answering them tomorrow. Anonymous comments should be on (please be respectful obv).
Fight embedded below:
What do you think your strengths and weaknesses were this fight? Where do you hope to improve the most?
ReplyDeleteExcellent job btw!
-ZJ
I am very happy with the way I fought overall. Obviously I got tagged with a big left hand right at the beginning of Round 2 and that was the result of just staying stationary and letting him use his range. I'd say that was the biggest weakness.
DeleteThe thing I did best was my wrestling, finishing in particular, which I'm happy about because finishing is often the weakest aspect of my wrestling.
Congrats on the win!
ReplyDeleteCongrats man!
ReplyDeleteYour double leg takedowns that you hit looked in perfect form! Have you been working on your wrestling a bunch?
PS: I posted the vid for you on mmasucka.com for ya. http://www.mmasucka.com/news/poker-player-terrence-chan-professional-mma-debut-legend-fc-8-video/
JP
Thanks JP! Always great to see that you support BC boys (and girls)!
DeleteI have definitely been working on my wrestling and particularly working my wrestling against strikers. I've been training with Irshaad Sayed here in HK who is a Muay Thai specialist with obviously great striking, so in our sparring I work a ton of takedowns and he works a ton of takedown defence!
thanks for the reply!
DeleteWho do you think won Round 1 and how close was it?
ReplyDeleteI feel like I won the round, I dictated where the fight happened, when I was on top I landed and when I was on bottom I was threatening repeatedly with submissions. He did land strikes from the top but they didn't really faze me. The one big punch from my guard in Round 2 where he gets to his feet and drops a big left hand was powerful though.
DeleteI just talked to one of the officials from the event and I did win the first round on the official scorecards.
DeleteAwesome fight and congrats on the win! Were you ever worried during the short period while you were standing and trading punches, since he sure seemed to have a lot of power?
ReplyDeleteAMD
You're always worried, especially because he is a pretty good striker, but this is MMA, you can't charge in recklessly for takedowns; you gotta set it up with your hands. So I always knew I was going to have to throw my hands and maybe eat one or two to set up my shots. The key is to just not get caught standing still (which I did at the beginning of Rd 2).
DeleteHow hurt were you before the takedown in the 2nd rd?
ReplyDeleteWith all the adrenaline, how did those punches/leg kicks feel compared to what you get hit with in sparring?
What did you focus on in your 2 weeks of prep for this fight?
Can you explain your feelings during the hour leading up to the fight?
How soon would you take another fight?
Awesome job, man! The fight was really exciting, you had us yelling the whole time.
- The big left hand obviously staggered me, but I was never dizzy or wobbly. It was just a big *bang* and the feeling of "oh shit, I probably shouldn't eat too many more of those"
Delete- They definitely hurt but I think I do get hit just as hard in sparring. The difference is that if someone hurts you in sparring they stop. In a fight they swarm.
- Mostly takedowns out of the Thai clinch and avoiding the Thai clinch. He never was able to get the Thai clinch, so obviously that's good.
- I was a bit anxious because my cornermen all have jobs and it was Friday night, so they were at their respective jobs until about 6pm (an hour before the fight). I was a bit worried I wasn't going to have enough time to wrap hands and get warm. I also had to calm myself down a lot because I was breathing really hard in the warmup, probably a bit as a result of nerves.
- The absolute bare minimum would probably be 4 weeks. I'm pretty bruised up so I won't be in the gym until Thursday at earliest I imagine.
How was it going to 5-minute rounds after having fought 3-minute rounds in Vancouver and Korea?
ReplyDeleteTough, but since I wanted the fight on the ground (and I had him on the ground early), I preferred it. 3 minute rounds are really really short. In sparring you usually do 5 so when you take a fight that's 3, you're so surprised when you hear your corner say "40 seconds" or something like that and your internal clock thinks there's so much more.
DeleteAt one point in the 1st I definitely recall looking up at the screen and saw 2 minutes left and I was like "damn, really? Oh well..."
Congratulations! Much better job of transitioning to mount after takedowns than last match. When you keep your knees together, you have a wicked arm bar. I'll be rooting for you man.
ReplyDelete-Ben Husmann
Thanks! Yeah I was a little sloppy letting him upa me from mount. It's tough because I want to GNP but it often opens you up to getting bridged.
DeleteYou were twice reversed from mount. Was this a tactical decision on your part? If not, what are your thoughts on those exchanges?
ReplyDelete-Ben Husmann
Hmm tactical...maybe subconsciously but not really. I mean you never want to trade the bottom for the top in an MMA fight, right? But I will say that maybe I was more liberal and aggressive with my GNP because I am comfortable off of my back. If I were against someone I felt was a really dangerous top-position grappler/GNPer, then maybe I would be more conservative in securing and holding mount.
DeleteGreat fight and big congrats. You schooled him so bad in wrestling and jits obv.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't seem to have much power in your strikes from mount. Thoughts?
Um, I guess I don't get to strike from mount very often in training because everyone else is better than me. That's all I can come up with.
DeleteI have the same question as Ben Husmann - his escape/sweep from mount was really effective - just explosive/lot of leverage?
ReplyDeleteThat hooky jab in the second looked rough, and both of his leg kicks looked strong - clearly you could take him down at will, and nice job doing so.
Answered above, but yes, he had very explosive hips and a lot of strength in his bridge.
DeleteWhat weaknesses did see scouting him pre-fight and what was your strategy to exploit them?
ReplyDeleteHow close were you to breaking his arm like a twig? What did he say to you after the fight?
How sore were you the next day?
How much $ did you make? (you earned every cent)
Congrats.
Obviously he looked very lost in his first fight on the ground whereas he looked extremely dangerous in the Thai clinch, so the idea was to avoid his Thai clinch and take it to the ground.
DeleteI don't think I held it for that long, but certainly I'd have broke it if he didn't tap. I watched the slow-mo and it does seem to hyperextend. I don't think he said much. I remember saying something like "man you hit me with a lot of good shots" and he responded with something short but don't really remember.
Well, it is only now the next day. My shoulder hurts quite a lot (I think he was throwing a kick that caught my shoulder as I went in for the takedown) and my jaw is a bit sore, but like nothing that can't be staved off by an Advil.
Sorry, but my contract explicitly prohibits stating what I made. It is the typical fighter deal where you make x for showing and x for winning. I am hoping I also got a submission of the night bonus, but I guess I'll find out.
it was a good fight, was hella stoked prefight and you didn't disappoint, neither in action nor results...
ReplyDeletewhat is the defense for grinding an elbow or forearm into the face from the top position?
how did you like the ring girls/outfits?
other commenters asked some of the questions i wanted to ask so am left with the stupid ones.
The defence is different for whether you're mounted or in guard. In guard you have to control posture, stay out at an angle, and overhook one arm.
DeleteOnly thing I noticed about the ring girls were how damn tall they were. I felt like a midget and that was after I just finished fighting someone 4-5 inches taller than me already. My female friend did comment that she really did like the outfits though.
Any idea what the betting odds were on the fight?
ReplyDeleteDo you plan on fighting in a lower weight class next time?
I doubt there were official betting odds. Maybe some unofficial action on 2+2, heh.
DeleteI could fight at 125 for sure, although it would suck. But Legend doesn't have 125 yet so it'd be for a different org.
The difference between amateur and professional poker player means you are making a living playing poker and nothing else. Obviously, the difference between an amateur fight and professional fight means something completely different. For those of us who aren't as familiar with the difference, could you explain what it means for you? I know that sounds like a ridiculous question, but since I've seen so much about this being your first professional fight, I'm curious if that just means you got paid for it, that it was on a profesional tour, or something else.
ReplyDeleteAlso, big congrats. Couldn't be happier for you.
Yes, basically it comes down to the fact I was paid.
DeleteOther than that, the difference is almost arbitrary. Many, many of the fighters in Battlefield (where I made my debut in Vancouver) are pro-level fighters. But due to legal bullshit in Vancouver, we can't have pro fights in Vancouver. So you have "amateurs" who would smash a very high percentage of pros. On the flipside there are dudes in the midwest US with like 13-2 pro records beating up tomato cans for $100/fight and a pitcher of PBR who would lose to those very amateurs. The dude I fought in Korea had better defensive wrestling than my opponent tonight, yet that was an "amateur" fight.
The main thing you sacrifice about taking a pro fight is that it means you cannot go back to amateur fights. There aren't at the moment amateur fights in HK. I would have actually preferred to take a couple more amateur fights to leave my options open but this just seemed like such a good opportunity. I really wanted to go in there on a big stage on an international show (11 million worldwide viewers!) and see how I would perform.
Thanks buddy. :)
Awesome job Terrance and congrats. Must be a great feeling and I am sure you worked very hard to get in best possible condition before the fight. That guy had quite a big height/reach advantage on you but he didn't seem to want to get up off the ground even when he had the chance. Why do you think he didn't?
ReplyDeleteAlso, can you remember how were you feeling throughout the fight? Was there any time you felt "shit I am in trouble here" or was it relatively smooth sailing? You took one or two pretty big hits to the face mate...
Must feel great to be 0-1!
I mean 1-0!!! (sorry!)
DeleteAwesome job Terrance and congrats. Must be a great feeling and I am sure you worked very hard to get in best possible condition before the fight. That guy had quite a big height/reach advantage on you but he didn't seem to want to get up off the ground even when he had the chance. Why do you think he didn't?
ReplyDeleteAlso, can you remember how were you feeling throughout the fight? Was there any time you felt "shit I am in trouble here" or was it relatively smooth sailing? You took one or two pretty big hits to the face mate...
Must feel great to be 1-0!!!
I assume you mean he had a chance to get up when he was on top. And I think you're right, it probably would have been in his interests to get up to his feet, punch once or twice and run away from my guard. I was surprised he didn't. I did have a plan in place for if he tried to do that though. And I think even if he did, I would have been able to continue to score takedowns, as even though I was getting tired, I felt like he was getting far more tired than me.
DeleteThere was definitely a point where I was getting cracked that I thought, "man, this sucks, I should do something about it". It was definitely not "smooth sailing" but my brain just switched to the mode of "what should I do?" rather than "this sucks". I guess the poker analogy would be if you're in a hand on the flop with deep stacks and your opponent does something totally unexpected and you're in a tough spot. You don't want to give away anything that tells your opponent this is a really big spot because there's still money behind; in your head you might have that "oh shit" moment, but you have to quickly put that unproductive thought out of your head and focus on the productive thought of "what is my plan now?"
Really entertaining, and good job.
ReplyDeleteYou did indeed look tired between rounds, and even after the fight I don't think your opponent had broken a sweat. I know that can be deceptive, though. Was Lee was as tired as you, or just profoundly unable to manage the fight? In general, does defending against grappling require more effort than initiating the holds?
Incredible how much control you had over the fight, though. With rare exceptions, you just seemed to be way inside his decision loop, and he was reduced to reacting.
Also, one more dumb question: did he submit, or did the ref stop the fight? I didn't see a tap, but I also didn't know a ref could stop a fight on his discretion for a submission.
Your most obvious weakness was in getting your shirts off before the fight. I think you should work on that in training, and maybe pare down to just two shirts.
Tired yeah, gassed no. I feel kind of perturbed the commentators felt I was so "gassed". I mean if I'm so gassed and he's so fresh, why am I hitting takedowns and passing guard at will? shrug. Honestly I feel like getting beat up is always going to be more gassing than doing the beating up.
DeleteHe tapped. You can see him tapping on my knee just a second after I switch to the armbar.
I agree the shirt thing was a bit of a clusterfuck. In my defence, usually you have cornermen help you take your shirts off, but for Legend they make the cornermen come out through a different entrance and the fighter comes out alone.
Great fight terrence. Just saw the replay on one of the forums. Wish I had the guts to do what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteI'm a pretty big MMA fan. I didn't get to see much of your standup. Are you pretty confident with all of your abilities right now? What's the plan going forward? I can't imagine the grind of poker being anywhere near as exciting as the cage.
"Confident" is an interesting word; I feel like I'm at least "competent" everywhere. But there's always room for improvement in every aspect. If they threw me in against a good grappler with weaker standup, obviously the game plan would have looked very different and you would have seen more of my standup and less of my grappling (assuming it went well for me).
DeleteAs for going forward, I'll continue to train, but I know how my bread is buttered. I have barely played any poker in the last couple months but obviously I need do play some, and with the WSOP around the corner I should sharpen the sword a little. But I do intend to keep training consistently so I'm ready for the next fight opportunity.
How long until your hand wraps came off this time?
ReplyDeleteWhen you had the omoplata and were wrapped around his back, he elbowed you in the face. Had you forgotten that he could elbow you?
When you hit that armbar at the end of round 1, you looked genuinely surprised to run into the corner. Thoughts at that time?
Really enjoyed the fight. Had you winning the first round for sure. Looking forward to the next one
Heh, right away this time, although they're still in my bag and available for the scrapbook.
DeleteI didn't so much forget as not care. I knew he wasn't going to be able to KO me from elbows from that position, so I simply considered it a cost of advancing my position.
Armbar: It was basically the fact that he gift-wrapped it for me, and I knew there was short time, so I figured what the hell, I'll go for it and even if I can't get it, the bell will sound.
Hey Terrence, i seen you in some poker news previously and seen you had some success so when hearing about the transition to MMA i had to check it out, very impressive fight.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your opinion of other poker players, and who would you be interested within the poker world to get in the ring with? Recently Bertrand and Lex done a show match which Lex took easily, would you consider anything for charity with him?
Heh, I don't think I'll be calling anyone out whether in or out the poker world. I know there are definitely guys who train MMA or some components of it like JC Alvarado, Johannes Strassmann, Ryan Daut (I think he still trains). David Benefield is really into boxing and Will Durkee is an absolute grappling stud from what I understand.
DeleteI'd be happy to do a kickboxing match with Lex for charity. It'd have to be soon though because man, I'm giving up a lot of size there so it wouldn't be long before he could kick my ass. :)
Great fight, Terrence - congratulations!
ReplyDeleteNice to hear your intro music again - did you use that in Korea also?
Nice touch with the Canucks jersey and Canada flag at the end too.
Just a couple more questions:
What were your thoughts on the omaplata? Did you think you could finish it there or were you trying to work your way onto his back?
What were your cornermen telling you throughout the fight and after the 1st round?
Thanks for answering the questions here.
Greg from Vancouver
No music in Korea. It was all business. They pumped out like 20 fights in 4 hours in the Korea event.
DeleteOmoplata, yeah this was a tricky one. I wasn't really sure where to go from here. To be honest, I was surprised I had it so deep. Part of me was thinking, "wow, can I really finish this?" Another part was thinking "maybe I can get him to roll to end up on top". Another was thinking whether I could grab a choke or neck crank or take the back. I was also trying to think whether going for a crucifix would work. I was almost paralyzed by choice and so eventually he spun into me, which led me to go for the gogoplata (where that came from I have no idea, I have never tried to gogo anyone in practice) and then finally to the loose triangle which he postured out of.
I don't remember a lot of what was said to me between rounds, other than that I was doing well and to keep doing what I was doing. I'm sure they offered lots of useful technical advice, but I honestly can't remember any of it now.
Really enjoyed the fight, congrats!
ReplyDeleteYou're obviously a badass, but do you feel like your big enough to fight the better competition in this weight class? Seems like you'll be running into alot of dudes who are going to be naturally much bigger than you? If there was a lighter weight class available, would you prefer to fight in it?
That's an awesome question. My head MMA coaches in both Vancouver and Hong Kong feel that I'm too small to fight at 61kg/135lb and that I should fight at 57kg/125lb for that exact reason. I'm definitely small for the weight class with the amount of weight people cut. I have training partners in both HK and Vancouver who are true 135ers and I know how much smaller I am than them (as if it weren't obvious seeing me facing off against Alex at the weighins).
DeleteBut 125 would suck, I'd be very unhappy getting to it. I eat healthy, I don't get out of line, and walk about 138-140. I know I can do it, but I would hate doing it regularly, but recognize that it might be necessary to compete at higher levels.
But most organizations still don't have a 125 class, so I will just continue taking appropriate fights at 135 unless the right opportunity comes up.
Did you know that high stakes cash game player and WSOP bracelet winner Rami Boukai almost submitted Urijah Faber once?
ReplyDeleteFight link below.
http://www.mma-core.com/videos/fights/Urijah_Faber_vs_Rami_Boukai_KOTC/10001299
Looks like Rami fought 145. Maybe you guys could do a fight pre WSOP one year.