Mixed martial arts superstar Ronda Rousey brushed off questions about controversial comments made by her mother as she geared up for next month’s UFC title defence against Holly Holm in Australia.
Rousey’s mother AnnMaria De Mars issued a searing attack against her daughter’s trainer Edmond Tarverdyan earlier this month, urging the fighter to split with the guru and branding him “worthless.”
However Rousey, who takes on former boxer Holly Holm in Melbourne on November 15, had little to say about her mother’s remarks as she spoke to reporters at her gym in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale.
“Any reaction and response I have for my mother, she’s going to hear from me and not a media outlet,” Rousey said.
Asked if she had already confronted her mother about her comments, the fighter replied: “I really don’t think that’s anybody’s business.”
Earlier Tarverdyan was similarly tight-lipped about the remarks. “It doesn’t matter for me,” Tarverdyan said.
“We have a fight in front of us. That’s all I worry about and I care about at this point.
“It’s her mom, at the end of the day. And that’s it. I’m a person that’s never spoke negative about anybody’s mom and will never do that. I’ve always said a mom is a mom and that’s it. That’s all I have to say.”
In an astonishing tirade earlier this month, De Mars attacked Tarverdyan and decried the influence he has had in shaping Rousey’s career.
“He’s like the most worthless human being God ever put on this Earth,” she said, adding that she would “run over him with my car if there wasn’t a law against it.”
Rousey, who has almost single-handedly taken mixed martial arts into the mainstream through a series of spectacular knockout performances, meanwhile said she thrived on pre-fight turmoil.
“The crazier everything is, the more I want to be in the gym and the more focused I do get, because it’s the time where I’m entirely in the present and none of those things exist anymore,” she said.
“That’s the only way I can get away from them, is when I’m in here. The more chaotic everything is outside, the better I do in fights.”