Ronda Rousey's loss to Holly Holm on Saturday night was a failure of coaching.
It was a failure of coaching on two different levels.
First, Rousey's game plan was sound in theory—take away the out-fighter's space and force her to fight in close quarters, with her back to the fence—but far from ideal in practice. Rousey rushed forward in straight lines, did nothing to cut off Holm's lateral movement with kicks or looping strikes to catch the challenger as she circled out and in general had no answer for a fighter who refused to stand in front of her.
Rousey didn't end up striking with Holm because she wanted to strike with Holm; she had to strike with Holm because she couldn't consistently get the challenger to the fence, where it was easier to grab onto the clinch.
Second, it was obvious that Rousey didn't have the tools to execute a game plan predicated on intelligent pressure. Only once or twice did she actually attempt to cut off Holm's movement, and when she did her footwork wasn't efficient. For the most part, she chased Holm, which left her overextended and with her face exposed.
That set her up up for the punching combinations and elbows that busted up her face and led to the final knockout.
The former champion's punching mechanics went out the window when she got tired and frustrated, which wasted yet more energy. Frankly, it was embarrassing, particularly when she flung herself forward into a punch and ended up on one knee, with Holm six feet behind her.
The latter is the more damning indictment, because it speaks to how little progress Edmond Tarverdyan has made with Ronda Rousey over the last several years. She's a pressure fighter whose entire game is built around aggressive forward movement, and he hasn't taught her how to pressure in an efficient, intelligent and defensively sound fashion.
Rousey is an elite, world-class athlete and a tremendous physical specimen with great size, speed, athleticism and power. To be perfectly blunt, with four years of professional experience under her belt she should be much further along in the development of her skills on the feet.
Her striking mechanics are still ugly. More importantly, the underlying awareness of where she is in the cage, how to cut off her opponents' movement and how to force the fight into her wheelhouse simply isn't there.
Let's compare her to a few other similarly talented fighters at the same point in their careers to get a sense for just how far behind she is.
Four years into his professional career, former Olympian Daniel Cormier stuck and moved his way to a unanimous decision over Roy Nelson and then knocked out Patrick Cummins. Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero knocked out Derek Brunson and brutalized Brad Tavares at exactly the same point in his career.
Both Cormier and Romero, world-class athletes with Olympic experience, mauled multiple opponents on the feet four years into their professional careers. More importantly, they did so by showing strong fundamentals, with efficient punching mechanics and clean movement through the space of the cage.
Unlike Rousey, Cormier and Romero were well into their 30s when they started fighting. It's easier to learn new skills in one's 20s than later on, and yet Rousey is still behind.
The difference is coaching. Cormier has been with the American Kickboxing Academy for his entire career, while Romero moved to American Top Team after suffering his only career loss. Both fighters have world-class coaches and sparring partners around them on a daily basis.
Rousey has Edmond Tarverdyan, whose response to watching his star pupil get out-worked, out-hustled, out-planned and viciously knocked out consisted of the following: "I wouldn't say in the striking game she was getting the best of Ronda, you know, but I have to watch it again."
Seriously? Tarverdyan needs to watch it again to be sure that Holm really beat Rousey on the feet? That's delusional, and while not damning in itself it speaks to precisely the dynamic that led Rousey to getting planted, unconscious, on the canvas in Melbourne.
After a first round that left Rousey battered and clearly in some measure of trouble, and so frustrated that she planted a post-bell cheap shot on her opponent, what did Tarverdyan say? "Champ, beautiful work." In Tarverdyan's defense, he did tell her to breathe and relax, but that was essentially the extent of his advice.
The contrast with Greg Jackson and Mike Winklejohn in Holm's corner couldn't have been clearer.
All of this leaves aside the rest of the mess surrounding Edmond Tarverdyan, namely his ongoing bankruptcy case—despite driving a new Range Rover—and the fact that Rousey's mother, Dr. AnnMaria De Mars referred to him a "terrible coach" and a "bad person."
That kind of drama can't be good for a fighter who's already dealing with a tremendous number of other commitments.
To get back to the top of the mountain, Rousey can't stay with Tarverdyan.
Rafael Cordeiro of Kings MMA in Huntington Beach would be the perfect fit—he specializes in training aggressive pressure fighters like Rousey—but he already trains "Cyborg" Justino, and it's unclear whether he'd take her on. Freddie Roach might be a possibility, or she could leave Los Angeles entirely and set up shop elsewhere.
Regardless of where she ends up, however, it's obvious that the former champion has gone as far as she can with Edmond Tarverdyan.
