Coach: Holm wasn’t getting best of Ronda in striking

Edmond Tarverdyan, coach to dethroned UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, spoke with ESPN‘s Ramona Shelburne on Sunday.

“I think for all the fans watching that love her and is a fan is heartbroken,” Rousey’s trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “I’m just staying strong now next to Ronda. There are no words I can say right now how I feel. It’s just, gotta be strong next to Ronda. That’s how I feel.”

“The game plan was pressing. We knew Holly Holm was going to keep the distance. So we had to feint and get inside and pressure the right way so we can get on the side of the cage. And we’ve talked about that and Holly Holm did a good job with moving today and stayed calm.

“I wouldn’t say in the striking game she was getting the best of Ronda, you know, but I have to watch it again. But we know this was not a striking match; we know that Ronda is smart enough to take the fight where she is best at and today she did. Holly stopped an attempt on an armbar and stopped some of the takedowns. She did a good job.”

“Holly today fought a good fight,. Today she took the shots pretty well and she, ah, her takedown defense was good.”

“[Ronda] apologized to me — and I told her that you are still the best and we’ll talk about what the plans are after she rests. Certainly the girl needs rest. It’s not easy to deal with everything she has been dealing with. She needs time to rest, and after she rests we’ll figure out what is best for her career.”

“Ronda is born to fight. Again, it is too much sometimes with everything else that happens but, three fights, she is a fighter. They want her to fight that fight; that’s why the UFC is as exciting as it gets because they’re fighters and nobody is just fighting on the time they want to — they have to be ready, and that’s about it.”

“She works hard and what she has done is very difficult to explain unless you witness it. The things she has done — no one can do them. She’ll come back stronger.”

In the last year, Ronda Rousey had the busiest year of any fighter in memory. She wrote a New York Times best selling autobiography, and did a grueling national media tour. She also filmed and released multiple Hollywood movies, with massive media duties. And she had three title shots in nine months, each with massive media duties. And there are well publicized conflicts within her team, with her coach facing potential financial ruin.

She deserves a rest.