January 31, 2017
By Ryan Porzl
At UFC 207, former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey returned to the UFC after a 13 month absence in an attempt to defeat Amanda Nunes to reclaim the championship she held with an iron fist for so long. However, the woman known for thrashing opponents in a minute or less found herself TKOed in only 48 seconds and coming off like yesterday's news. Since then, everybody has asked what happened? How did she go from beating opponents in less than a minute to losing in less than a minute? Like a lot of things in life, there isn't one thing that led to Rousey's downfall but multiple things with many of them being obvious in hindsight.
We must start with the obvious 400 pound gorilla in the room and that is Rousey's long time controversial coach Edmond Tarverdyan. Rousey has spent most, if not, her whole career training with Tarverdyan at the Glendale Fight Club and it seemed to pay off for both. Rousey enjoyed dominance for years first in King of the Cage then Strikeforce and then finally in the UFC. People also began to believe Rousey was becoming more well rounded under Tarverdyan especially against Bethe Correira. Before long, Tarverdyan began to benefit as he enjoyed some praise in the MMA community, he was nominated for Coach of the Year awards, and quickly became highly in demand as many fighters began to flock to him including Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke, Brendan Schaub, Travis Browne, and Jake Ellenberger. However, as these fighters came to train under Tarverdyan, his image began to unravel with none of them achieving much or any success under him. Prospects like Shafir and Duke failed to show any of the potential they had while top ten fighters like Browne and Ellenberger saw their skills plummet at break neck speed as they began putting on the worst performances of their careers and before long began fighting for their jobs instead of fighting for title shots. It only seemed like Rousey saw any success in Glendale. Then Rousey ran into Holly Holm and while nobody should've expected Rousey to be as good of a striker as Holm, she came off so unprepared. It was embarrassing that she trained with Tarverdyan for years but came off as someone who never sparred a day in her life as she showed no combinations with her strikes and no head movements. Along with being bad as a trainer, Taverdyan has done worse as a coach and cornerman as there have been times where it's clear he doesn't seem to know what to say when his fighters are in trouble and offers no good advice while other times he's like a chicken with it's head cut off. It's become clear that Tarverdyan was not the right trainer and coach for Rousey and offered her nothing once she was out of her comfort zone be it other tools or good advice.
There are a group of people who also deserve some blame and many wouldn't think of it but they do and that's the UFC specifically UFC President Dana White and Commentator Joe Rogan. I know everyone is questioning this but if you think about it, it makes sense. Now, there's nothing wrong with hyping up fighters especially to sell fights or if they're the best in the world. Unfortunately, what started as hype about Rousey being great or special or mean or nasty eventually turned into some of the biggest hyperbole the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has ever heard. By the time Rousey was set to face Holm you had UFC employees like Dana White talking about how Rousey could beat legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather despite such a fight never happening. You had White saying she was the greatest athlete he ever worked with and the biggest star in The UFC by far. Rogan was even worse with claims that she could beat half of the mens bantamweights to slobbering over her after one of her fights by saying it was an honor to call her fights which is something he usually reserved for legends nearing the end of their careers to calling her a "once ever". The thing is Rousey is in her late 20s and is human which means, like all of us, she has an ego. It may not mean much but imagine if you were in Rousey's shoes and you had people talking about how you could do all these great things and what an honor it is to call your fights and that you're a once ever. You think that wouldn't go to your head? It would and it likely went into Rousey's and you can't blame her since that will happen when you're young and hear these things over and over and over again, you start to believe it.
Yet another thing to look at is what Rousey has been doing and what other women's bantamweights have been doing. The first part of Rocky III was Rousey's life leading up to the losses to Holm and then Nunes. Like Rocky Balboa, Rousey was enjoying the fruits of her success. She was rich and famous while going into Hollywood with TV commercials and film roles while being a favorite on the talk shows like The Tonight Show and being one the few to appear on shows that big frequently. Fighters like Holm and Nunes were Clubber Lang in that they were hungry contenders training everyday, pushing themselves, and fighting their way up the ladder as Rousey was losing the eye of the tiger. Along with that, the commercials and film roles were another part of her downfall. As her fellow bantamweights were focused on fighting and training in attempts to get better and evolve, Rousey was getting complacent and maybe too comfortable. She wasn't pushing herself the same way and she wasn't evolving to keep up. MMA has been considered a sport that's constantly evolving and it's shown that one minute a fighter could be the best while the sport has passed them by the next which is something Rousey has discovered the hard way. In the mean time, the question has also got to be how much time did she lose doing commercials, film roles, talk show appearances, and red carpets? Even if she was in an elite gym that could sharpen and improve her skills, she wouldn't make the necessary evolution to keep up because she wouldn't be in the gym so much as she would have commitments elsewhere and she would still lose focus.
Lastly, a big reason for Rousey's downfall was none other than Ronda Rousey herself. Rousey is a grown woman who can make decisions for herself and when you look at everything during the thirteen months where she lost to Holly Holm and then lost to Amanda Nunes, Rousey didn't do a single thing right. Not one thing. Losing is a part of life regardless of whether we want it or not. We all lose whether it be competitions to board games, sometimes we win and other times we lose. However, it's always said that people can learn a lot more from losing then winning. Rousey is someone who strives to win and it's admirable how competitive she is but that mentality can also be hurtful. I personally don't know if I've ever seen anyone take losing as bad as Ronda Rousey. Rousey has shown she doesn't take losing well nor does she use it to improve or work on the holes in her game. Instead, she went into hiding for most of that thirteen month period and the few times she was seen, she either hid her face behind a pillow in the airport after flying home or giving a sob story on the Ellen DeGeneres show. She also controversially hid from the MMA media in the month leading up to her fight with Nunes and wouldn't grant interviews while reports came out she had to be consoled after her face to face confrontation with Nunes. Losing can sting and it's something none of us want to go through but Rousey handled it the worst way possible. When it did become clear Rousey was an emotional train wreck following the Holm fight, she should've sought some kind of therapy like a sports psychiatrist. There's nothing wrong with therapy and it's more accepted now than in the past. It can be very helpful and could've been a good way for Rousey to accept that it's ok to lose and to turn such a negative into a positive. Instead, she was mentally shot all year long and leading up to the Nunes fight. Along with the mental stuff, Rousey also fumbled the ball when it came time for training. Everybody knew that Rousey had to get out of the Glendale Fight Club and train somewhere in order to become better and more well rounded. So when it was announced that Rousey was staying there and training with Taverdyan, we all knew it would be a disaster. There's nothing wrong with loyalty and Rousey deserves credit for loyalty but Rousey is now at that point where is loyalty more important or her career? Training at Glendale was the definition of insanity as Rousey was doing the same thing a second time but expecting a different outcome. The thirteen month layoff was also a mistake. If Rousey is serious about her career, she can't take a year off after a loss and expect to waltz in and easily take back the title. She probably should've come back early or take another fight before going for the title. So what we ended up with was a rattled fighter who continued to train in the same gym which hadn't helped her and she came back to a title fight after taking a year off.
In the end, only Rousey probably knows what led down this road. Whether she makes a comeback or even fights again isn't known now but people love a good comeback story. One thing is for certain, one thing alone can't be considered the reason for Rousey's downfall. When people especially athletes have everything going for them only to decline, it's usually more than one reason and Rousey is no different.
There are a group of people who also deserve some blame and many wouldn't think of it but they do and that's the UFC specifically UFC President Dana White and Commentator Joe Rogan. I know everyone is questioning this but if you think about it, it makes sense. Now, there's nothing wrong with hyping up fighters especially to sell fights or if they're the best in the world. Unfortunately, what started as hype about Rousey being great or special or mean or nasty eventually turned into some of the biggest hyperbole the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has ever heard. By the time Rousey was set to face Holm you had UFC employees like Dana White talking about how Rousey could beat legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather despite such a fight never happening. You had White saying she was the greatest athlete he ever worked with and the biggest star in The UFC by far. Rogan was even worse with claims that she could beat half of the mens bantamweights to slobbering over her after one of her fights by saying it was an honor to call her fights which is something he usually reserved for legends nearing the end of their careers to calling her a "once ever". The thing is Rousey is in her late 20s and is human which means, like all of us, she has an ego. It may not mean much but imagine if you were in Rousey's shoes and you had people talking about how you could do all these great things and what an honor it is to call your fights and that you're a once ever. You think that wouldn't go to your head? It would and it likely went into Rousey's and you can't blame her since that will happen when you're young and hear these things over and over and over again, you start to believe it.
Yet another thing to look at is what Rousey has been doing and what other women's bantamweights have been doing. The first part of Rocky III was Rousey's life leading up to the losses to Holm and then Nunes. Like Rocky Balboa, Rousey was enjoying the fruits of her success. She was rich and famous while going into Hollywood with TV commercials and film roles while being a favorite on the talk shows like The Tonight Show and being one the few to appear on shows that big frequently. Fighters like Holm and Nunes were Clubber Lang in that they were hungry contenders training everyday, pushing themselves, and fighting their way up the ladder as Rousey was losing the eye of the tiger. Along with that, the commercials and film roles were another part of her downfall. As her fellow bantamweights were focused on fighting and training in attempts to get better and evolve, Rousey was getting complacent and maybe too comfortable. She wasn't pushing herself the same way and she wasn't evolving to keep up. MMA has been considered a sport that's constantly evolving and it's shown that one minute a fighter could be the best while the sport has passed them by the next which is something Rousey has discovered the hard way. In the mean time, the question has also got to be how much time did she lose doing commercials, film roles, talk show appearances, and red carpets? Even if she was in an elite gym that could sharpen and improve her skills, she wouldn't make the necessary evolution to keep up because she wouldn't be in the gym so much as she would have commitments elsewhere and she would still lose focus.
Lastly, a big reason for Rousey's downfall was none other than Ronda Rousey herself. Rousey is a grown woman who can make decisions for herself and when you look at everything during the thirteen months where she lost to Holly Holm and then lost to Amanda Nunes, Rousey didn't do a single thing right. Not one thing. Losing is a part of life regardless of whether we want it or not. We all lose whether it be competitions to board games, sometimes we win and other times we lose. However, it's always said that people can learn a lot more from losing then winning. Rousey is someone who strives to win and it's admirable how competitive she is but that mentality can also be hurtful. I personally don't know if I've ever seen anyone take losing as bad as Ronda Rousey. Rousey has shown she doesn't take losing well nor does she use it to improve or work on the holes in her game. Instead, she went into hiding for most of that thirteen month period and the few times she was seen, she either hid her face behind a pillow in the airport after flying home or giving a sob story on the Ellen DeGeneres show. She also controversially hid from the MMA media in the month leading up to her fight with Nunes and wouldn't grant interviews while reports came out she had to be consoled after her face to face confrontation with Nunes. Losing can sting and it's something none of us want to go through but Rousey handled it the worst way possible. When it did become clear Rousey was an emotional train wreck following the Holm fight, she should've sought some kind of therapy like a sports psychiatrist. There's nothing wrong with therapy and it's more accepted now than in the past. It can be very helpful and could've been a good way for Rousey to accept that it's ok to lose and to turn such a negative into a positive. Instead, she was mentally shot all year long and leading up to the Nunes fight. Along with the mental stuff, Rousey also fumbled the ball when it came time for training. Everybody knew that Rousey had to get out of the Glendale Fight Club and train somewhere in order to become better and more well rounded. So when it was announced that Rousey was staying there and training with Taverdyan, we all knew it would be a disaster. There's nothing wrong with loyalty and Rousey deserves credit for loyalty but Rousey is now at that point where is loyalty more important or her career? Training at Glendale was the definition of insanity as Rousey was doing the same thing a second time but expecting a different outcome. The thirteen month layoff was also a mistake. If Rousey is serious about her career, she can't take a year off after a loss and expect to waltz in and easily take back the title. She probably should've come back early or take another fight before going for the title. So what we ended up with was a rattled fighter who continued to train in the same gym which hadn't helped her and she came back to a title fight after taking a year off.
In the end, only Rousey probably knows what led down this road. Whether she makes a comeback or even fights again isn't known now but people love a good comeback story. One thing is for certain, one thing alone can't be considered the reason for Rousey's downfall. When people especially athletes have everything going for them only to decline, it's usually more than one reason and Rousey is no different.
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