Ronda Rousey’s mother is known for being straight forward and honest about topics concerning her daughter, and this time was no different. Dr. Ann Maria De Mars, a former Judo champion herself, put Ronda’s coach Edmond Tarverdyan on blast, stating that she will no longer be quiet about her issues with him.
“I think Edmond is a terrible coach and I will say it publicly,” DeMars told LatiNation. “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 won the judo worlds when she was 17. She got a bronze medal in the Olympics. She got a silver medal in the world championships,” she explained. “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,” she exclaimed. “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 think it’s bad that he uses her to lure people in. And 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.”
Rousey is by far the most accomplished and popular member of the Glendale Fight Club roster, with other UFC fighters on the stable clearly not getting a similar type of success. Ronda is certainly a top level athlete, but in the past, Taverdyan did admit to not wanting to coach the Olympic medalist when she first stepped in his gym.
“When she came in, I didn’t want to train her because I had my hands full,” Taverdyan told Joe Rogan (HT: MMAJunkie). “She would have a lot of patience and have a lot of understanding and would work very hard. After like three, four months of being in the gym, I gave her a few pointers.”
Ronda is set to face Holly Holm at UFC 193, and her camp hasn’t been without drama. Apart from these statements about her coach, the UFC champ’s personal life has also been brought to the public, with Rousey getting some heat for dating her teammate accused of beating his current wife.
Now, I wonder what Dr. Ann Maria thinks about this current ‘Bob’.
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