FightHype.com recently caught up with Pit Boss John Hackleman to talk about Chuck Liddell's big win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79. Check out what he had to say about their gameplan coming into the fight, the "Ice Cliff" takedown Liddell pulled off during the fight and the important role the scuffle at the weigh-in played in the outcome. Plus, you don't want to miss what he had to say about Georges St-Pierre's win over Matt Hughes and Liddell's future plans as he shares his thoughts on a potential fight with Lyoto Machida and more.
PC: What's been good with you Pit Master?
JH: Everything! Have you been checking out the website?
PC: Of course. Those interviews you do kill me. You didn't do too many for UFC 79 though?
JH: Yeah, I know. I had the camera and I was talking to everybody; I just wasn't in the mood. I wasn't in the interview mood. I just didn't feel like talking to people and asking them questions. I asked a couple of questions. I didn't have Dana, Rampage and, oh, 'cause Randy Couture is having that falloutÂ…I was wondering why I didn't see Randy. I just didn't feel like talking to anyone. I was with my girlfriend and we had the video camera and we would walk away from like 5 stars and I was just like, "I just don't feel like talking to these fucking people!" I was in a different mood for this fight. It was more business for this fight. I didn't want to talk to Wanderlei because he was being a butt.
PC: Oh, was he?
JH: I tried to interview him once and he just walked. I got one short one with him. He didn't recognize me at first and then, when he saw me with the camera, he wouldn't even talk to me.
PC: I thought I was finally going to get a chance to see those hands at the weigh-in. I saw you kick those slippers off. You were ready, huh John?
JH: (laughing) Yeah. I don't know (laughing). Yeah, a lot of people saw that.
PC: I saw you step in front of him and I had to rewatch it to see the slippers come off.
JH: Once the slippers come offÂ…if 1 slipper comes off, somebody gets a spanking and if 2 slippers come off, somebody gets a beating. I need to get a T-shirt made with that on it.
PC: Congratulations!
JH: Thank you, thank you!
PC: I know it's been a long time coming my man. How do you feel?
JH: Everything was perfect; absolutely perfect. I actually had a lot of help this fight. We had a wrestling coach come in, Sammy Henson, and he's a silver medalist from the 2000 Olympics. He helped Chuck a lot. Glover Teixeira and Chuck actually came up with the takedown idea in the 3rd round. They constantly worked on that and Henson helped with it because he is really good at takedowns. All I had to do is tell Chuck when I thought he should do it and as soon as I told him to do it, he did it immediately and it worked. I had another guy, Eric, who was Chuck's old college roommate and wrestling partner who was really pushing Chuck hard this fight. He was sparring with him every day, yelling at him and pushing him. Lighty was there as always and really the whole team. Everyone was there. They just helped me a lot more and pushed Chuck. Chuck really got pushed hard for this fight. This one was a big team effort.
PC: Chuck was pulling off a spinning backfist and everything. Is thatÂ…
JH: He worked that one. He must've done that 10-15 times every day in sparring. We knew he was going to do that. That was all his idea; that was all him.
PC: I was really surprised at the size difference between Chuck and Wanderlei. I thought Wanderlei was a little bigger than that.
JH: I thought so too. I mean, when you talk to him though, you could see how meaty he is. I don't think he had a problem with weight. Any time a guy doesn't take his shirt off to weigh in, you know he didn't have a problem with weight. Then he got stupid at the weigh-in and any time someone does that, it just fires Chuck up even more. As soon as he did that, we went in the back and I was 10 times more confident than I was. You do that to Chuck, you're going to fire him up a lot more. I had a hard time firing him up againstÂ…what's the crazy looking guy's name?
PC: Keith Jardine.
JH: Yeah. I had a hard time firing him up against him. I had to yell at him in the corner 'n shit, you know, but that shit Wanderlei did really fired Chuck up. I was glad that happened.
PC: He gave Chuck the old Tito Ortiz nod.
JH: Yep!
PC: I really wanted to see you have to throw some hands man.
JH: (laughing)
PC: I just wanted to see one swing from you.
JH: If he would've taken one more step. It was the trainer I was worried about. I wasn't worried about Wanderlei because they were holding Wanderlei, but his trainer was like coming off the side. You could actually see it in a couple of pictures. I have a picture. I'll email it to you if you want.
PC: Yeah, I want to check that out.
JH: It actually shows his trainer off to the side. It looks like he's sprinting towards Chuck. That's actually when I jump in between him and Chuck and I don't know if someone grabbed him or what, but I don't know what the fuck he was thinking to do. Chuck's back was turned so I don't know if he was going to hit Chuck in the back or something. So anyway, that's what I was worried about. I have the picture of this guy lunging towards Chuck; it was the little bald-headed guy. It was really weird. I was like, "What the fuck is this guy doing?"
PC: Did Wanderlei do anything that surprised you? Did you think he would be a little more aggressive?
JH: The gameplan I had for that fight was exactly what Wanderlei was going to do. Chuck's right hand was working perfect in that fight and that's the main thing we worked on, the jab and the right hand. We worked on a lot of counter left hooks, but they didn't come into play because Wanderlei wasn't rushing like he usually is. I told Chuck I didn't think he was gonna. I saw that he hadn't been doing it as much lately. He does it sporadically. He used to do it more often, but not it's just sporadic, but he does have that powerful right hand so we had Chuck keep his left hand up in training a lot and that was probably the second most thing we did. It saved him from a lot of right hands. I think the main thing was the takedown, which was Glover and Chuck who came up with that and they even named it and I yelled it and Chuck hit it right away.
PC: What was the name for it? "The Unthinkable"?
JH: If you watch the fight close, right before Chuck goes out for the third round, I tell him, "It's time for the Ice Cliff." He does it right away. I didn't even come up with that one; that was all Glover and Chuck. I can't take credit for it. If you notice though, I do give him water in between rounds.
PC: You can take credit for that, huh?
JH: Yeah, whenever he's thirsty, I always give him water. If I don't do anything else, I keep him hydrated.
PC: I know in the interview before the fight, you didn't think Wanderlei would attempt to take Chuck down.
JH: No, he did exactly what I thought he would. I studied him a lot before this fight. I was surprised that his chin was a lot better than I thought it would be. He was tough as nails. We've watched it a bunch of times and he was as tough as nails. I'm a little concerned about his training methods. I think he's going to get hurt in training, training like that. I'd like to have a talk with him.
PC: What part of his training? The whole snorkel thing?
JH: Not just the snorkel thing, but the way he spars. He says he let's people hit him when he spars. Most boxers get punch drunk from...hey, speaking of boxing, I just saw Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor fight. That was a pretty good fight. Fights like that and Hatton-Mayweather will get boxing back. They were both pretty action-packed fights.
PC: Yeah, boxing had a great year.
JH: Yeah, I know.
PC: I have to email you an interview I did with Floyd Mayweather Sr. It's him talking about what would happen if Lil Floyd went into MMA.
JH: Is the guy in Floyd Jr.'s corner as punch drunk as he sounds?
PC: Oh, you're talking about Roger, his uncle.
JH: Yeah. He's either really punch drunk or just stupid. It's scary to think like this pimp/ crackhead is going to have a lot of money. Is he really as dumb as he sounds? Is that the one that was "The Boa" or the "Black Mamba?"
PC: Yeah, the "Black Mamba".
JH: I remember him. He was a pretty good fighter, but never quite made it to the very top.
PC: I'll email you that interview.
JH: Yeah, and I'll send you those pictures. Chuck flipping Wanderlei off was classic. The last fight, they had some big security guard in John Lewis's face. You know John Lewis is always in the corner with us and he's a little guy. I got into it with the guy and it got kind of heated and my slippers came off, you know, and after, my girlfriend says, "I see you kicked your slippers off. I guess you feel tough now?" It's a thing we did in Hawaii because everyone wears slippers so as soon as it's a fight, the slippers come off. We were at the afterparty of this fight and some Hawaiian guy was like, "Hey bro, I saw your slippers come off man!" The last time that happened, I had some words with the security guy and I kicked my slippers off and 2 weeks later, I get a letter of reprimand from the UFC.
PC: Did you really?
JH: (laughing) I guess he turned me in for threatening him.
PC: What would you like to see Chuck do next?
JH: I'd like to see him relax for a little while and fight at the beginning of summer. I don't care who right now. It doesn't really matter.
PC: Machida recently called Chuck out saying he would like to fight him.
JH: Did he? He's one of the least guys I would like to fight. Not for his toughness or anything. It's just his style is so hard to prepare for. I knew he would beat "The African Assassin". He was a 2-1 underdog and so was Chuck. Glover beat Sokoudjou before and I knew he was hype. He's number 4 in the world. They had him 4 places before Chuck. My guy that knocked him out is not even in the top 20. You know who Machida is like? He's so boring, but he's like the Larry Holmes of MMA. He'll fucking beat everyone. Jimmy Young was like that too. Jimmy Young is the reason that Foreman retired and went to Jesus. He went into the locker room after that loss and said he saw a vision that he had to serve Jesus. He had to go to the hospital because he was dehydrated and he became a preacher and left boxing for like 12 years. He's like a Jimmy Young type. Machida is a scary guy. He's going to be a hard guy to beat.
PC: What did you think about Georges St-Pierre's performance?
JH: I love him. I thought he would beat Hughes 10 out of 10 times, but for some reason, going into this fight, I just looked at him and I told my girlfriend I didn't think he was going to win. I even saw him walking into the ring, and we have a little friendship and stuff, and he just didn't seem like the St-Pierre of old. I thought, "Shit, he's not going to do good." Hughes was in our dressing room with us and I thought Hughes was going to win just because St-Pierre didn't look right. I think a lot of things have happened with St-Pierre and he's just a different person. I was miss-reading his personality changes, but he looked great. I thought he was dehydrated or something. I think he's definitely the best MMA fighter. He's well-rounded and I don't think there's anybody close to him.
PC: Thanks for your time as always John. Congrats again on the win. That was a great fight. Anything else you want to say?
JH: No, everything is good. Call me if you need anything.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]