Tarverdyan explains his coaching philosophy

Ronda Rousey’s head coach Edmond Tarverdyan is currently the most despised figure in the sport, following Rowdy’s second consecutive loss at UFC 207. He has been very nearly silent since the loss, emerging on media only once, in a clip that was big on hand signs, and short on words.

However, prior to Rousey’s title loss to Holly Holm on November 15, 2015, at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia, Tarverdyan detailed his coaching philosophy. He sums it up as, “Be great at everything, not average.”

There are persistent rumors that Rousey did no real sparring in preparation for Nunes. The coach offered his thoughts on Rousey engaging in MMA sparring. He said Ronda boxes in practice with 14 oz gloves but expressed reservations about MMA sparring.

“Sparring, MMA sparring with Ronda, is … a bit dangerous,” said the coach. “It’s very hard. Our guys try to spar with her, it becomes very crazy. She’s knocking out the guys. If she’s not, they have to stand there and engage with her 100 percent. So do I want that 100 percent female engaging against a male in my gym? I don’t want that.

“So I do boxing sparring with proper 14 oz gloves, and we have Lissette [Medel, a 9-1-1 female boxer] and today we had Ukrainian national team girl that won the bronze medal in kickboxing also at the Muay Thai world cup.”

But MMA sparring is apparently not done because Ronda goes 100% and the coach doesn’t want women going 100% with men in his gym.

Rousey lost her title to Holm at 0:59 of Round 2. Holm lost her belt to Miesha Tate in the first title defense. Tate, in turn, lost her belt to Amanda Nunes in the first title defense. And Nunes beat Rousey at just 0:48 of Round 1. It is widely believed that Rousey will not fight again.