In Cages and at Tables: A Look at MMA Fighter and Poker Pro Terrence Chan’s Career
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As one of the most popular combat sports, mixed martial arts is primarily physical, requiring strength, agility, and endurance. However, it also involves mental skills, as MMA fighters must analyze their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and adapt their approach accordingly.
So, it’s no wonder that the top MMA fighters excel in mind sports as well, such as poker. Officially recognized as a mind sport in 2024, poker is an intellectual exercise that tests players’ strategic thinking, mathematical ability, and mental endurance.
A notable example of an MMA fighter who has been successful at the poker tables is Canadian former mixed martial artist Georges St-Pierre, also known as GSP to the global MMA community. GSP is a former welterweight and middleweight champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. Outside of his competitive fighting career, St-Pierre has also participated in professional poker tournaments, such as the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
In addition to GSP, another mixed martial artist who has demonstrated power and confidence at the poker table is Terrence Chan, a 44-year-old pro fighter from Vancouver. Below, we look at Chan’s accomplishments in MMA and poker and how he thrives in both competitive industries.
Chan’s amateur and professional MMA wins
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver, Terrence Chan is a mixed martial artist who is also trained in other combat sports like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai boxing, and Western boxing. Chan participated in amateur bouts for the Battlefield Fight League (BFL) and the South Korea-based Road Fighting Championship (Road FC) since 2011. One of his most notable victories was against Sung Un Kim in the Road FC: Into League 1 in 2012, which he won on points.
Chan made his professional MMA debut in 2012, beating Alex Lee at the Legend Fighting Championship (Legend FC) 8. He would go on to win three other professional bouts, namely at Underground Battle Mixed Martial Arts (UGB MMA) Championship 14 (2016), the BFL 45: Ascension (2016), and the Xcessive Force Fighting Championship (XFFC) 18: Diablo Fight Series (2018).
In a 2016 interview with Card Player, Chan shared that he considered his UGB MMA win in Manila a significant achievement and hoped he would one day compete in the UFC. His fight was for the now defunct World Series of Fighting, which is now named the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Unfortunately, Chan never made it to the UFC – the pinnacle of mixed martial arts.
Chan’s online poker history
Chan’s poker career started many years before his MMA debut, where he began playing online. Chan began to play around the same time the US online poker scene boomed in the early 2000s, due to the historic story arc of Chris Moneymaker when he won the prestigious World Series of Poker after qualifying via an online poker site in 2003. Moneymaker is considered the god of online poker, as he continues to promote the modern game as part of ACR Poker’s Team of Pros.
Chan’s early poker run resulted in a high-profile partnership deal with another poker site, PokerStars. In a 2019 interview, Chan recalled working with PokerStars at a time when the WSOP Main Event, one of the biggest poker events with the highest stakes, only attracted 500 players. More than two decades later, the WSOP Main Event sets new records with thousands of attendees every year.
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Although Chan has yet to win the WSOP Main Event after participating in hundreds of WSOP tournaments, he successfully took home his first-ever WSOP bracelet in August 2023. Chan won the gold bracelet for Event No. 8, a $2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship hosted online on GGPoker, and the cash prize amounting to $64,021. In an Instagram post from his official account, @tchanpoker, Chan wrote, “A lot of people don’t consider the online bracelet to have as much shine as the ones won in Vegas, […] but I did have the pleasure of my entire family packing into my office to see the winning hand–something that wouldn’t have been possible in Vegas.”
To provide context, the yearly in-person WSOP is held in Las Vegas, even after the famous Vegas gaming venue Caesars Entertainment ended its deal with the WSOP brand in 2024. Chan concluded his post by expressing his wishes to still win a WSOP bracelet at an in-person event in Las Vegas—showcasing his remarkable ambition to advance in professional poker while still training MMA as a passion. While he hasn’t competed since 2018, the 44-year-old is obviously keeping his mind and body sharp as he takes on new challenges after his short MMA career.
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