Edmond Tarverdyan doesn’t seem to be having much fun these days. In the space of three months, reports came out that he filed for bankruptcy, then his trainee Ronda Rousey lost her title before, finally, Tarverdyan’s coaching license was suspended.
It’s the bankruptcy case that seems to be the most bizarre.
In July, 2015, Tarverdyan filed for bankruptcy (uncovered by Bloody Elbow’s John Nash), claiming certain facts about his income that seemed completely unlikely, considering his coaching of one of the most famous and best paid members of the UFC.
He declared himself as not-employed, and stated that he had an income $0.00. This is despite his appearing in Rousey’s corner, as well as seemingly owning the gym the former champion trains out of, Glendale Fighting Club.
Tarverdyan has now appeared at two trustee meetings under oath to answer questions in relation to his bankruptcy claim. At the second, in December, BloodyElbow reported that Tarverdyan testified that his wife owned the gym due to his being “bad at finances,” as well as stating he was unaware of debt standing at $700,000. He also estimated his 2015 year earnings from Rousey being between $200,000-$300,000.
Today, BloodyElbow have again continued their fantastic investigation into the issue, and obtained transcripts from Tarverdyan’s trustee meetings regarding his bankruptcy claim. It’s now we appear to see just how much Tarverdyan may be in trouble.
In the first hearing, he said that his income from the coaches share of fighter purses was minimal, saying he’d earned “nothing but a few hundred dollars, that’s it.” In the second, (as mentioned above), he said he’d earned six figures from coaching Rousey alone.
In the first hearing Tarverdyan says a student of his, Sevak Ohanjanyan, owns the gym, yet in the December’s second hearing, he names his wife as the owner.
The audio of the hearing can be found here:
But despite all the issues, don’t expect sympathy to be flying in from all sides.
Be it UFC fans, media pundits or even Dr. AnnMaria De Mars (Rousey’s mother), Tarverdyan seems to be a figure of repeated criticism in the MMA world. These issues certainly don’t help his case.
In an interview with LatiNation, Dr. De Mars went off on her daughter’s coach, declaring she’d had issues with him for a long time (Tarverdyan’s bankruptcy claim potentially being one of those) and could no longer keep quiet.
“I think Edmond is a terrible coach and I will say it publicly,” DeMars said. “I think he’s a terrible coach. I think he hit the lottery when Ronda walked in there.
“She was one of the top athletes in the world when she walked in there and he wouldn’t even give her the time of day for months[…]Somebody like that is a terrible coach, and I think she stays there, because it’s like somebody pitches a no-hitter when they’re wearing red underwear and they wear that red underwear every day. I think it’s superstition and I would caution anybody from going there.
“He’s a bad person and people should not go there. And if he wants to sue me, that’s my honest opinion.”
Tarverdyan’s critiques reached their highest after Rousey lost her Bantamweight title to the hands of Holly Holm in a ferociously one-sided affair.
In between rounds one and two, Rousey sat on her stool the recipient of a five minute pasting, only to be told by Tarverdyan that she was doing “beautiful work.” Add to that his comments following the fight to ESPN, in which he denied Holm (ex-professional boxer) was besting Rousey in the stand-up aspect of the fight, and you don’t paint yourself favourably as a coach.
Indeed, in an interview shortly following UFC 193, UFC commentator (and friend of Rousey) Joe Rogan somewhat agreed with the negative press.
“When you go back to a corner after a round like that,” Rogan said. “Which was a round that was just fraught with peril and problems, you’ve got to get some tactical advice and you’ve got to have a corner person who’s going to figure out a way to tell you how to change gears[…]her corner was telling her, ‘You’re doing great.’ Okay, that’s fucking crazy talk. That’s just nonsense. Everything about that is wrong. She’s not doing great. You can’t tell her she’s doing great.”
Tarverdyan’s role in the MMA world is one attached to Rousey.
The superstar has shown herself to be very fond of her coach, and has cited him as a reason for part of her success. If Tarverdyan’s bankruptcy claim is rejected, or his debts continue to spiral, it’ll be interesting to see if the former champion can continue to ignore the bad press surrounding her controversial mentor.
