As Ronda Rousey continues to maul through her bantamweight opposition with exceptional ease, the demand for the superfight against Cristiane Justino continues to gain momentum, as it has become clear that the only legitimate challenger left for the champion lies in a separate division.
Rousey’s coach, Edmond Tarverdyan, is more than happy to oblige and prepare his pupil for the long anticipated fight, if and when ‘Cyborg’ is able to make the 135-pound weight limit. He explained that Rousey would not fight at 145lbs, even though some of her early career fights took place at that weight.
“I don’t want her to fight at 145,” Tarverdyan told Submission Radio. “Before when she fought [at a higher weight class] the reason was one; she was just starting her career in MMA. And number two is that we were ready to fight every day. Ronda couldn’t have fights. It wasn’t like Ronda’s choice of fighting of 145 or 135, people didn’t want to fight Ronda. Ronda fought every time undefeated opponents in her amateur career also. Anybody that wanted to fight her, we said [to the] promotional company “hey, one day before, just let us know. We’ll jump into the fight”. So that’s why we didn’t care about the weight, whether it was 150, 148, it didn’t really matter because people were not fighting her. It was a problem for us to find people to fight her.”
However, he has no interest in making an exception for Cyborg, whom he considers a proven “cheater” following a positive drug test for drostanolone in 2011.
“And those girls did not done what Cyborg has done, those girls did not cheat,” Edmond explained. “Cyborg has cheated. People have to understand that. And now, no fucking exceptions. I don’t want exceptions, I want it at 135.”
Tarverdyan added that the Cyborg fight isn’t one that worries him, as he believes Rousey is a far better striker than Justino ever was.
“No. Ronda beats her in striking. She overwhelms people, she pushes her punches and she throws a bit heavy, you know, heavier than some of these opponents, but her opponents give up on her. Ronda’s knockout was a knockout this last fight.
“Everybody saw her hand speed, the power. On shot, boom. Out. That’s punching. And Ronda’s only going to be punching better from now on, definitely. So I’ve never been a fan of hers. I think she’s slow, she just overwhelms people because of what she’s been doing I think. And she can box a bit more than the others, and she’s been doing it longer and it doesn’t surprise me. Ronda is the better athlete. Ronda is quicker, stronger and faster. That’s it.”
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