Joe Rogan Questions Ronda Rousey’s Training For UFC 207

Ahead of this past Friday (December 30) all eyes were on Ronda Rousey. Coming back for the first time since her knockout loss to Holly Holm, ‘Rowdy’ received an immediate title fight at UFC 207. Even after such a brutal loss and her time in recluse, many were picking ‘Rowdy’ for victory against Nunes. Putting all that discussion to rest right away, ‘The Lioness’ battered Rousey in just 48 seconds. Again eyeing an uncertain future, the former Olympian’s striking game has become a topic of debate.

Questions about Rousey’s mental readiness or the ‘fire’ to compete aside, where was her stand up? Obviously most people are looking at Edmond Tarverdyan first. After her fight with Holm, coach Edmond’s credentials came under fire, and the story since UFC 207 is no different.

Joe Rogan’s Thoughts

Speaking during last night’s UFC 207 recap on the JRE, Rogan raised some intriguing points:

“That was just so surreal, it was the least competitive main event ever I think I’ve seen. Even McGregor vs. Aldo was just one dynamic shot that landed and put him out. Physically, Ronda looked great. There were some red flags before though, what kind of sparring was she doing?”

“I saw video of her hitting pads with Edmond (Tarverdyan) and they were just standing in front of each other. She wasn’t moving, she was just standing still hitting pads like pop-pop-pop. She had to close the distance and clinch, the idea to stand against Amanda Nunes was ludicrous. The difference in punching power was literally double.”

Marketing Ploy

Rogan spoke out weeks before UFC 207 about the skewed promotion by the UFC. Claiming the hype videos that essentially focused solely on Rousey were ‘bizarre,’ the commentator delves further in to the UFC’s promotion of her return:

“The whole thing was a big marketing hype piece within the Ronda Rousey business. A lot of people were 100% sure that Ronda wins, I was 100% sure ‘who the fuck knows?’ Ronda was in amazing shape, you think about the things she was able to do in the past. Maybe she flips Nunes on her head and gets the armbar, then suddenly she’s the greatest again. She was standing straight up in the air, wasn’t moving her head, then she put her legs together. That’s when you know someone is really hurt, because sh*t just isn’t working properly.”

“When she got knocked out by Holly, I really think there are a lot of people who are never the same. Those neck kicks do a lot of damage, people can’t absorb those shots. When you get hit in the neck like that and collapse, it’s doing so much damage. The Nunes fight was hard to watch. After she beat Rousey, she put a finger up to her mouth and went right up to Edmond and went ‘shhh!’”

Brendan Schaub & Eddie Bravo

Schaub

“She wasn’t there, though, mentally. I think there were things leading up to it, the biggest red flag was Dana White. For him to say she could skip all the media sh*t, there’s just something going on there. Edmond is obviously a terrible coach. I felt like after the first jab Ronda was just lost.”

Bravo

“I feel like she needs to go train wrestling every day, twice a day. We shouldn’t be seeing highlight reels of her hitting pads, she should be hitting singles and doubles all day. If I’m training a Muay Thai striker in Jiu Jitsu, I’m not telling him to go out there and get the fight to the ground. I want him to win the fight with his Muay Thai, then we get another four months to improve the ground game. It’s like some coaches want to see their fighter win with their moves, their speciality.”