Ronda Rousey had a roller-coaster ride in Mixed Martial Arts, especially the UFC, and she continues to garner attention and controversies even after her retirement. She was the first female bantamweight champion with record-breaking rankings, but her coach was also a part of the hard work. Like others, she also credited her coach for her success, but something changed. She narrated her tale and revealed why she was unhappy with her coach, who she trained with for five long years. During an interview a few months back, she not only retold her tale of quitting UFC, but also her tumultuous relationship with her coach. What happened between them?

It all started with Rousey’s mother, who was a former judo world champion and introduced her to the world of combat sports. She trained to become an Olympic medalist and after winning the bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics, Rousey went into MMA and became UFC’s first woman’s bantamweight champion in 2013. All this success was surely her hard work along with the help from her coach, Edmond Tarverdyan. They worked together for 5 years. However, everything changed slowly as the boundaries began to blur.

Speaking to High Performance two months back, Rousey claimed, “Like later with my coach Edmond in MMA, he had like become a father figure and a sibling. And then also a coach and we became like, it just became too much control over my life. And wanted to know where I was and what I was doing at all times.”

That is when her family and mother had to intervene and the strict boundaries were set. She said, “But because I was a professional bringing in large amounts of money, I could put my foot down.” After coming into MMA and winning bouts, she started earning more and thus she had more say in the matter rather than when she was an amateur fighter.

Even her mother AnnMaria De Mars said crude things about her coach and said that he was a “bad influence.” According to the Press Association (via ESPN.com), Tarverdyan was not keen on taking Rousey on when she made her intentions clear to come into MMA. However, he was impressed by her judo skills, and De Mars, her mother, was the reason for that skill. He also apparently had legal issues after making errors on paperwork. He was also investigated after filing for bankruptcy on the case that he had no income.

 She has complained about other coaches as well in her combat career.

Ronda Rousey was not happy with some of her coaches

She once told a story about her 2004 World Junior championships where her coach (name unmentioned) was not aware of her strengths or fighting style. She said in her memoir, My Fight/Your Fight, “He was not my coach. For major international competitions, the sport’s governing body appoints a coaching team to travel with the athletes. For the most part, the coaching staff is purely symbolic.” She recounted how before each of her matches she would ask whether her opponent was right-handed or left. His coach would simply say, “I don’t know.”

Rousey was also left disgusted by the fact that her coach did not even know she was left-handed. These little things are crucial for fighters so that they can perform their best inside the arena. She, however, did not get the proper coaches she needed. Nevertheless, she channeled her disappointments into the right path, and ‘Rowdy’ dominated the UFC. She also defeated her opponent in the Junior World Championship in 4 seconds after losing at the Olympics.

On the other hand, when Rousey entered the UFC, she paired up with Tarverdyan, but even that did not work out. She currently is retired from UFC but is the first female fighter to have a Hall of Fame and she paved the way for a lot of other female fighters. What do you think about her story? Let us know in the comments below.