Brendan Schaub Explains Why Ronda Rousey Won’t Leave Edmond

After UFC 207, the sad truth is we may never see Ronda Rousey in active competition again. All the mockery and joking about her loss to Amanda Nunes aside, that 48 seconds of destruction was difficult to watch. Again cropping up in the discussion about Rousey’s future is her coach, Edmond Tarverdyan. Kenny Florian was one of many analysts who recently came out with his opinion on coach Edmond. ‘Ken-Flo’ believes Tarverdyan is simply not qualified enough to teach high level MMA.

When discussing the matter during the latest episode of ‘Fighter & The Kid,’ Brendan Schaub offered a deeper insight. Explaining the intricacies of a relationship between coach and fighter, Schaub discusses his former girlfriend’s bond with Tarverdyan.

“I think that’s it, I don’t know why she would come back. 411 days off in MMA is like taking four years off in football. That’s how fast the sport is growing. If I came back now I’d look like Jack Dempsey. Like ‘oh we aren’t wearing helmets now, we aren’t doing that CTE stuff?”

“The sport evolves so fast. I think the 411 days off were a mistake, so if she takes more time off, what then? She fights an even more seasoned Amanda Nunes, what happens then? People are saying she should just change camps, it doesn’t work like that. Let’s say she goes and trains at Jacksons, what happens if she doesn’t gel with the coaches?”

“Say she’s used to being the only top dog in the gym, and she goes to Jacksons and it’s full of killers. Maybe coach Mike Winklejohn doesn’t understand how to coach her, or her ego is too big to learn from them. That has happened before. What would have been the better gameplan, she should have stayed on the outside and picked her shots?”

“She’s never ever done that in her career, and you expect her to do that while she’s shooting all these movies and sh*t? It doesn’t work like that. If that’s not your cup of tea, it’s not going to help you. There’s so many factors, it’s such an intimate relationship between a coach and a fighter. It’s like that scene from the avatar, when they plug their hair in to the horse. If you don’t gel, it’s not going to work. That’s why she’s so loyal to Edmond even though he’s so bad. And he really is terrible.”

“He has no business being her coach. The other guys and women he’s coaching are terrible. You look at how he ruined Travis Browne’s career. Even though he beat me, he’s a terrible fighter now, even though he did beat me. He had more talent than anyone who came through that gym, including Ronda. His career is going down the drain. His footwork is just gone, and he’s going to get cut if he loses to Derrick Lewis, especially with how much they pay him.”