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Edmond Tarverdyan, the embattled coach of Ronda Rousey, made headlines by going on the MMA Hour recently and saying he still wanted Ronda to fight Cris “Cyborg” Justino. It was an incredibly stupid thing to say, one that suggests he doesn’t care about Rousey’s well-being in the slightest. He has fielded criticism and scorn from the rest of the MMA community, with good reason: his corner work is atrocious, and Ronda Rousey, an incredible athletic talent, never learned proper striking fundamentals under his tutelage.

He struck back at critics recently on the MMA Hour, especially coaches. Clearly, their opinions bother him more than most. Transcript (via BloodyElbow.com):

“There’s a coach, Duane Ludwig and this other guy. I’m gonna mention their names so they could shut up and know what I’m talking about, because they don’t know shit and they talk too much. From that CSA gym, Kevin Ross and those guys (who) trained there — that guy talking shit and posting my video talking to Travis Browne a certain way in the second round, saying that I shouldn’t swear and I should give advice.”

Tarverdyan insisting that striking coaches with proven pedigrees, track records, and actual mastery of striking fundamentals is rich. Even coaches trying to be fair to him insist his corner work in the Nunes bout was “as bad as it can be.” But he’s not done. He insisted his atrocious cornering in the brutal Browne KO loss to Derrick Lewis was actually good and correct.

“I know how to speak to my fighter, right? You think that I trained Travis Browne, but don’t know how to speak to Travis Browne? You do, and I don’t?” he exclaimed. “I train that guy everyday, and I don’t know how to encourage him or give him advice a proper way, with a proper tone, with a proper voice? “Listen, I’ve trained Vic Darchinyan, 10 time world champion in boxing, and I spoke calm in the corner every freakin’ round. Why? Because he’s such an aggressive fighter,” he said. “But if I have to shake the fighter to get up and to do it, to believe in themselves, I have to give him that advice, give him that love after, give him that courage, with my voice, and with my voice, I have to.”

Tarverdyan, who has also fielded sharp criticism from Ronda Rousey’s mother, and who has never had sustained success with any UFC fighter other than Ronda Rousey, thinks that other coaches can’t criticize him on their own Instagram pages. The coaches in question, of course, are universally well-respected; Kevin Ross, who trains at CSA, is one of the best-regarded American Muay Thai fighters of modern times. CSA regularly hosts visiting UFC fighters like Cub Swanson to work on their striking. Duane Ludwig, of course, took Team Alpha Male to their first UFC belt with TJ Dillashaw. Such coaches with a public platform regard it as a duty to expose bad coaches, so students aren’t duped into learning from them.

You cannot criticize me or post something on your Instagram on your home school page. That’s disrespectful man,” he said. “You have a gym, you feed your family. I have a gym, I feed my family with that gym. “And Duane Ludwig, making a ‘funny’ comment under that?” he continued. “Hey, I have hundreds of you private messaging me, saying ‘coach, you’re doing an amazing job with Ronda. Oh my god, amazing. happy faces.’ What happened to that?!” “I’m saying it in public, so they could all know, I know my shit. Shut up. Those are to the coaches. The public, they don’t understand that and they don’t know.”

Okay, Edmond. Whatever you say.

CSA’s head coach, Kirian Fitzgibbons, responded on his Instagram account:

So here's what we learned yesterday on @mmafightingdotcom#mmahour ... Duane Ludwig and I don't know S**T, Edmond had no legal troubles, no licensing issues, Travis brown beat Fabricio, Codero should be embarrassed, and Ronda's Comeback fight after TWO devastating KO's should be against Cyborg. Edmond doesn't remember my name, but somehow has my phone number, called me and I apologized.... .... ah ok so NONE of those things are true but hey if it makes you feel better to say it

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