Georgi Karakhanyan is a former Glendale Fighting Club MMA fighter and is close friends with Manny Gamburyan, who is also close with Ronda Rousey. Just like how the world got the shock of the century when Ronda Rousey’s recent loss, Karakhanyan was also caught by surprise about what took place inside the octagon when Rousey went up against Holm last UFC 193 just recently.
In a recent interview, Karakhanyan was asked if he thinks Rousey should leave GFC and her present coach, Edmond Tarverdyan. He said that it’s not his place to decide what should be the best step to take.
“I think Ronda, she makes her own choices,” Karakhanyan said. “Maybe she should listen to her mother a little more. And I think whatever her mother wants her to do, she should do it. I don’t think it’s my call for her to leave whoever. Whatever she wants to do.”
Ann Maria De Mars, Rousey’s mother, recently released some serious comments about Rousey’s coach in several interviews this fall, just weeks before UFC 193. De Mars revealed that Tarverdyan is a “bad person” and a terrible coach. Aside from these, the coach is “extremely disrespectful to women” as well. She even said that if it wasn’t against the law, De Mars would run Tarverdyan over with a car. De Mars also said that Rousey is doing others a disservice by letting her coach promote himself and the gym through her.
“Whoever she wants to date, whatever she wants to do in her career, that’s her business. But if you’re in a situation where you’re really causing harm to other people by being used as bait to lure people in there, I think somebody needs to speak out. All I did was say publicly what people have been whispering for years, but no one had the balls to speak up, because Edmond is like that gatekeeper to Ronda. It’s just nauseating,” De Mars said.
However, Karakhanyan doesn’t think Tarverdyan should be the one getting all the criticism. He believes that Rousey’s loss to Holm is a result of a lot of circumstances, including the MMA training she got for the fight. Karakhanyan made it clear though that he has nothing against Glendale Fighting Club and its team. But he thinks Rousey’s training should be modified, especially if she’s going to have a rematch with Holm again.
“You can’t blame the coach all the time. But let me tell you one thing, too. Looking good on the mitts? Everyone can look good on the mitts. I can shadowbox for 10 hours in front of the mirror and it’s like false information for myself. Like, ‘Oh man, I’m ready for this fight.’ But when you get hit with MMA gloves, it’s kind of a different story. It kind of showed that, to me, that Ronda couldn’t take a punch with MMA gloves. I know I’m gonna get a lot of sh*t for this. I thought Holly Holm played very smart and Ronda just couldn’t even take her down,” Karakhanyan said.