Ronda Rousey is a huge topic of conversation in the world of mixed martial arts. Some are saying she was never as good as she was made out to be, and her fight with Holly Holm exposed her. Others think she simply got pulled in too many directions and took her eye off the ball. The latter would be the opinion of Joe Rogan, stand-up comedian, podcaster, UFC commentator, and Rousey fan.
Saying Rousey fell for the distractions of fame, Rogan suggested the former women’s UFC bantamweight champion needed a “massive overhaul” of her training. Here he is in a detailed interview with Bloody Elbow:
Ronda’s got to go to a camp that has the full arsenal. She’s got to go to a Firas Zahabi or a Matt Hume, or someone like that, in my opinion. If I was talking to her, that’s what I would tell her. I’d say, ‘You can’t just train with a judo coach and Edmond [Tarverdyan, her head coach] holds the pads for you.’ Edmond has definitely done some great things for her boxing technique, that can’t be denied. Her combinations when she hits the pads are very impressive, but there are other elements that come with striking. It’s not just about throwing your hands and having the technique look good.
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I think she needs someone who will objectively assess her game as an outsider, not someone like Edmond, who trained her from the beginning with mitts; she needs someone else, as well. She needs someone who is going to be able to look at the big picture of her overall MMA game, and then rebuild. She’s gonna need a massive overhaul.
Rogan also called out Tarverdyan for not offering Rousey any solid advice in between the first and second round of their fight.
“When she gets back to the corner, her corner was telling her, ‘You’re doing great.'” he said. “Okay, that’s f**king crazy talk. That’s just nonsense. Everything about that is wrong. She’s not doing great. You can’t tell her she’s doing great.”
Ronda Rousey hasn’t said much on anything since the fight, but she has said she will continue to train with Tarverdyan. But will he continue to be her head coach? Will she supplement her training with him somehow following her disastrous last fight? There’s no hard rules when it comes to people on Rousey’s level and their training. Georges St-Pierre used to split his camps between Firas Zahabi’s Tristar in Montreal and the Greg Jackson / Mike Winkeljohn gym in Albuquerque, which just happens to be Holly Holm’s current camp.
I’m sure Ronda’s mother will share her opinion on what she thinks is best, but it’s all on Ronda’s shoulders as to what she ends up doing. Will she switch up her training? Will she scale back on acting and promotional distractions? So many things she could be doing differently, and people are going to be second guessing it all until she gets her hand raised again in victory.
(Via Bloody Elbow)
