It seems as if once Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne’s roads intertwined on the path to love, while under the tutelage of Glendale Fight Club (GFC) head coach Edmond Tarverdyan, both of their mixed martial arts (MMA) careers took a turn for the worst.
Of course, this is merely speculative and perhaps a coincidence, but with both battling busy schedules and dealing with their relationship being in the public eye, it’s worth examining seeing as how both suffered debilitating knockout losses to Holly Holm and Andrei Arlovski, respectively, in 2015.
Tarverdyan was perhaps chewed out more in the case of Rousey for his questionable cornering in between rounds when “Rowdy” was getting beat up on the feet by “Preacher’s Daughter” last November at UFC 193. He might insist that his pupil wasn’t being routed by Holm “Down Under,” but the fact remains, Rousey walked away with more than just a few bumps and bruises.
Now, with the former Olympic bronze medalist in Judo sidelined for a significant part of 2016, Tarverdyan is banking on Browne kicking off 2016 with a much-needed victory for GFC.
His comments on the trying times for Browne and Rousey by way of MMA Fighting:
“Everybody works hard, everybody’s passionate about what they do. Last year was a tough year a little bit for us, but it’s 2016. They’ve got to learn from their losses, and we’ve go to step it up and show what we are capable of doing. Travis got a loss, Ronda got a loss…things happen in life and we’ve got to show what we’re made of in the next fight. Travis is doing the opening of the year, first fight, a big fight for us, and we’re very confident and we’ve worked very hard for this fight. He’s got to show his skills. And from then on we’ll take it fight-by-fight, whether it’s a three-round fight or a five-round fight, it’s important for us to win.”
Rousey’s knockout loss at the hands of Holm was perhaps the most shocking. Holm’s upset victory shook up the MMA landscape and changed the outlook on the women’s 135-pound title picture for the time being.
Though she went into hiding, following her first professional ‘L,’ Rousey has been lifted back up emotionally via help from her family and boyfriend, Browne. The 28-year-old movie star appears to be on the mend, collecting more movie roles, while flaunting her assets for the world to see.
When it comes time for Rousey to step back into the Octagon, you can expect to her to have Tarverdyan in her corner, just as Browne will for his upcoming Heavyweight tilt opposite Blackzilians slugger Matt Mitrione.
“Hapa” looks to start anew in 2016 and remind the MMA masses why he was closing in on a Heavyweight title shot just over two years ago, when he knocked out stalwarts like Josh Barnett and Alistair Overeem in succession.
Browne meets Mitrione on the FOX Sports 1-televised main card of UFC Fight Night 81 tomorrow night (Sun., Jan. 17, 2016) in Boston.
For more UFC Fight Night 81 news and notes, including up-to-the-minute live results and play-by-play, click here and here.