Chuck Liddell at PokerStars Burlesque Party

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Interview from Poker Pro Magazine in 2006:

For yourself, what’s the most enjoyable part of playing poker?

I like the numbers, I was always a numbers guy, I was an accounting major in college, I graduated in accounting. I like the numbers and the odds, and I also like watching guys play and the way people get away with setting people up and getting them to bite when you don’t have anything, or bite big when you have something, or fold when you don’t.

 

Do you see any similarities between the fight game and the game of poker?

That’s goes with what I was saying–of the things that makes fighting fun for me is setting people up, setting them up for things. I’m a really calculating fighter—I’m trying to set people up all the time and I think that’s a lot of what winning on a consistent basis is—guys who can read people and know how to set them up and know what they’re trying to do and counter it.

 

And you enjoy watching poker on television as well?

Quite a bit actually, it’s something I like to watch if I’m flipping through the channels and there are no movies I want to watch or nothing else I like to watch is on. And I love the fact that they put up the percentages and stuff like that, so you know what the chances are for the right cards to come up for the guy.

 

Do you have any favorite players you like to watch on TV?

I like some of the guys that pop off to people and rattle them, it’s pretty funny and a little more entertainment.  I like Phil Hellmuth, he’s pretty funny, he makes me laugh–he’s always talking shit. Other guys that get so cocky out there it’s fun to watch them play; they’re cocky but they’re good–they’re still winning all the time.

 

The UFC holds events in major gambling hotspots such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Mohegan Sun. Do you have the chance to hit poker rooms?

Every once in a while I do. Sometimes I get the chance, especially if it’s an event I’m at where I’m not fighting, I’ll go gamble a little bit, I’m not real good but I try.

 

What would you say your style is when you play poker?

I kind of switch up, it just depends. Sometimes I don’t have enough patience when I’m playing, sometimes it gets a little slow, but I think a lot of these guys have a lot of patience in how long they play these games.

 

You’re a very competitive person inside the UFC Octagon and you’ve mentioned that you’re competitive in everything you do. Does that still apply?

I don’t like losing at anything. I’ve gotten better about it, but once I start getting into something I don’t like losing at it at all. I’ve gotten better about shooting pool here and there or whatever, I use to be a nut about it, I didn’t want to lose at anything. But now it’s kind of like if it’s not something that I think I’m good at I’m okay with it.

 

Some fighters speak of keeping a poker face in the Octagon. Is maintaining a demeanor that doesn’t allow your opponent to know you’re hurt important?

Definitely that’s a big thing. I yell at all my guys when I’m training them, “Don’t ever let me know you’re hurt, you let me know you’re hurt you might as well as to put a target on wherever you’re letting me know you’re hurt.”

 

You’ve been a great finisher of fights via knockout, do you feel you’re really good at reading your opponents?

Yes definitely, and that’s a big part of the sport too—being able to read what they’re doing and think, “When I do this, what is he going to do?” A lot of stuff I do at the beginning of a fight is trying to figure out what a guy is going to do if I do a certain action so I can gage that sort of reaction so I can set him up and pull something and make him run into something.

 

Your nickname, “The Iceman”, what is the origin of it?

It came a lot from the fact that I don’t get nervous before fights. I’m very calm and I’m very calculating when I’m fighting, I’m trying to set people up, I’m thinking the whole time, I’m not a real emotional fighter.