With the news that Ronda Rousey was planning on taking the first half of 2016 off to concentrate on Hollywood projects, you’d think she’d be spending less time in the gym than before. Apparently not. New pictures from TMZ show the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion back at the Glendale Fight Club working mitts with her coach Edmond Tarverdyan.
Ronda Rousey — I'M FIGHTING AGAIN!!! (PHOTOS) https://t.co/WSHZaDNu2q
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) February 11, 2016
Those who know Rousey shouldn’t be surprised that she still plans to keep an active training regiment, even without a fight coming up. The reporter from ESPN who followed her around leading up to her big fight in November said Rousey’s schedule was absolutely rammed, with Ronda feeding off the constant jumps from one thing to the next.
Besides, she’s got a lot of work ahead of her if she wants to be able to stand toe to toe against Holly Holm in their eventual rematch without getting badly outstruck. That’s not to suggest she should go in with that strategy … a smarter path to victory involves going back to her bread and butter of judo throws and armbars.
But Holm is going to do her best to turn this into a striking match, and Rousey will have to hang while trying to bring things to the mat. A number of people have suggested the same old training with her current coach Tarverdyan may not be enough to get her ready. I guess we’ll have to wait until the fall to see.