Travis Browne dementerar ryktena och förklarar att han fortfarande tränar med Edmond Tarverdyan inför matchen mot Derrick Lewis.
Efter Ronda Rouseys (12-2) misslyckade comeback har den kontroversiella tränaren Edmond Tarverdyan blivit måltavla för en hel del kritik.
Nyligen kom rapporter om att pojkvännen, den topp 10-rankade tungviktaren Travis Browne (18-5-1), valt att lämnat Glendale Fighting Club för att istället träna på Black House MMA. Nu förtydligar ”Hapa” dock att han fortfarande kommer coachas av Tarverdyan.
Bytte gym av praktiska skäl
Browne hade följande att säga via ESPN:s 5ive Rounds podcast:
”He’s still my coach. He comes out quite a bit. He comes out every week to help. The only difference is it’s not in his gym. The man has a family, he has kids. It’s one of those things, to ask another man to come out for two-three months, you just can’t do that. So this camp he’s not as big a part as he has been previously but he is still part of this camp.
”That’s all it was, that the location of my camp is different. When I was doing my whole camp in Los Angeles, Ricky Lundell would come out once a week, but he’s still my coach. So, it’s the same thing, we’re just doing it out here where I’m getting consistent work with the guys that I need to get done with… It’s just getting consistent work and having consistent bodies out here in Vegas, especially for the guy I’m facing. It’s just one of those things where as a team we felt it better for me to do the camp out here based on the bodies out here. So instead of flying guys in or constantly traveling to different places it’s better to go where the bodies are.”
”Lätt att döma från utsidan”
34-åringen, som gör sig redo att ta sig an Derrick Lewis (17-4, 1 NC) i huvudmatchen på UFC Fight Night 105, svarade även på kritiken mot tränaren – och poängterade att alla coacher har varit med om nederlag för deras fighters.
”I think it’s easy to judge from the outside,” sa han. ”Anybody that I’ve ever had in camp to work with me as a training partner is always like, ’Man, Edmond knows what he’s talking about.’ He has a great fight IQ. He has good coaching. It’s about the athletes going out there and performing. Every coach has lost. Every champion with the exclusion of Jon Jones, has lost. Why didn’t the community come down on those coaches?”
”He doesn’t care [about his reputation]. That’s the difference. He doesn’t care about looking good to everybody. He cares about being good to the people around him. Being a good coach. That’s why he doesn’t have 50 guys in his stable.
“[The criticisms] are for the the wrong reasons. I understand a guy like that could be easier to dislike because he doesn’t care. I think I get the same rap sometimes. I’m disliked a lot and it’s probably for the wrong reasons.”
Uppskattar en emotionell coach
Mycket av hånen mot Tarverdyan har handlat om hur han coachade Rousey under matchen mot Amanda Nunes (14-4) på UFC 207, då hans instruktioner mer eller mindre bestod av att vråla ”head movement”, ”move” och ”clinch” innan hon blev knockad 48 sekunder in på den första ronden.
Browne menar dock att han uppskattar hur emotionell Tarverdyan är.
”During a round, unless the crowd is quiet, which a lot of times it isn’t in my fights, you’re standing there and the coach yells, ’One-two, one-two low kick.’ Whatever it is, you don’t really hear stuff. When you’re in a fight and leather is being traded, I mean, are you really going to hear your coach? If you’re hearing your coach it’s a problem. It means your mind is not in the moment when this guy’s trying to take your head off,” sa han och fortsatte:
”He’s an emotional guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. That’s something I can appreciate about him. He loves his athletes and he shows his athletes he loves them. For me, in between rounds, what he has told me has been good and spot on.”
Vem har du som vinnare på UFN 105 – Browne eller Lewis?
Omslagsbild: Mazdak Cavian
