When it comes to grappling, former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey is a beast. Thanks to her Olympic-level judo and lethal armbar, Ronda has dominated most of her opponents with ease, earning all but one of her wins in the first round, usually within the first minute.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for her striking. Yes, Rousey has earned some of her wins via knockout, but none of those wins came against high-level strikers. Sara McMann was a wrestler and Alexis Davis was a BJJ black belt. Bethe Correia had some striking behind her, but she was anything but a knockout artist.
This weakness of hers was on full display when she took on kickboxing champion Holly Holm at UFC 193 in December 2015. Holly teed off on a seemingly helpless Ronda Rousey, knocking the former champion out early in the second round.
And what Holly did to Ronda back in 2015, reigning Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes did last night at UFC 207…only she did it in about 1/6 the time.
From the get-go, Amanda came out swinging and connecting on Rousey’s chin. Ronda’s face immediately reddened, and though the former champ kept her hands up, she was unable to weather the barrage of punches coming her way.
Forty-eight seconds and God knows how many punches later, referee Herb Dean had no choice but to call an end to the fight, giving Amanda Nunes her first title defense and the biggest win of her career.
Ronda’s loss not only leaves us with the question of whether or not we will see her in the cage again, but why she has been dominated so easily by high-level strikers.
Nunes thinks she knows the answer: Ronda’s longtime coach Edmond Tarverdyan.
“She thinks she is a boxer,” Nunes said about Ronda at the UFC 207 post-fight press conference. “He [Edmond] like put this thing in her head, and make the girl believe in that. I don’t know why he did that. She had great judo. She could’ve gone more forward in this division, but he put that crazy thing about boxing (in her head), and her career started going down.”
Hi Haters! 👋 #AndStill @Amanda_Leoa #UFC207 pic.twitter.com/7DtxbtEwKD
— UFC (@ufc) December 31, 2016
Nunes isn’t the first person who has had issues with Tarverdyan’s training of Ronda. Last year, Rousey’s own mother and fellow judoka, AnnMaria DeMars, didn’t mince words when talking about her daughter’s coach.
I think Edmond is a terrible coach and I will say it publicly. I think he’s a terrible coach. I think he hit the lottery when Ronda walked in there. She was winning before she ever met him. She probably won 99 percent of the judo matches she ever fought in.
She was one of the top athletes in the world when she walked in there and he wouldn’t even give her the time of day for months. Somebody like that is a terrible coach. And I think she stays there, because it’s like somebody pitches a no-hitter when they’re wearing red underwear and they wear that red underwear every day. I think it’s superstition and I would caution anybody from going there.
I told Ronda, ‘I’m not going to be quiet about this anymore.’ He’s a bad person and people should not go there. And if he wants to sue me, that’s my honest opinion.
With two one-sided losses under her belt and two high-level athletes telling her to get rid of Edmond, maybe it’s time for Rousey to take their advice and throw that pair of “red underwear” in the trash.
That is, of course, if she decides to stick with MMA in the first place.
You can watch Nunes at the post-fighter press conference below. She appears at 1:29:30:
She is absolutely correct, but I think it’s too late for Ronda to listen. The damage is likely done. That guy is a disgrace to coaching.