Ronda Rousey has formed a bond with coach Ricky Lundell since leaving the UFC nearly a decade ago.
Lundell once serve as an opposing coach to Rousey on Season 18 of âThe Ultimate Fighterâ reality series. He was in Miesha Tateâs corner for their highly anticipated title rematch at UFC 168 in December 2013, but since then, a lot has changed.
So much, in fact, that Lundell is now Rouseyâs (12-2) head coach and will be leading the charge on fight night when the former longtime UFC champion steps into the cage for her return to MMA competition May 16 against Gina Carano (7-1) at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. (Netflix).
âWeâre basically here because fcking Ricky," Rousey said on her YouTube channel. "We were mortal enemies. Started off as mortal enemies. He was coaching against me on âThe Ultimate Fighterâ and he was so nice I was like, 'This motherfcker is so patronizing and fake.â And I hated his guts.â
Despite Rouseyâs past disdain, a door for a new relationship was opened up by her husband, former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne. Lundell and Browne had a bond of their own, which eventually led to the barrier being broken down.
Eventually, Rousey and Lundell began training together in judo and spending more time in and out of the gym. Rousey felt Lundell was always âplanting the seedâ to come back to MMA, then eventually the day came where it came to fruition.
Lundell said he never shared the negative perspective toward Rousey that she once held against him, and expressed his gratitude for being part of her journey to what will be a monumental event headlined against Carano.
âWatching this experience and watching it open up, it has been such a travesty to watch the fight community and see how the fight community has responded to Ronda,â Lundell said. "She competed so hard for all of the fans, took MMA to this next level, especially female MMA. Then as soon as a loss shows up, the entire community just turned in such a way that anybody would be like, âWow, Iâm really hurt by thisâ and associate it with marital arts.
âWhen Ronda got to separate from that and really come back to what she loved deeply inside of her, I saw her start to quickly heal from that space of, âIâm not doing this for that, Iâm doing it for me.â That has been really, really powerful to be a part of.â
She is enlisting some guy named Lundell who used to coach Meisha, not Meisha herself. Jeez get your shit straight so I dont have to keep pushing it in.
Nailed it Cheezy
hahhaahahahaahahahahaha
I thought for a minute she hired Brian Caraway
You mean to tell me she wont be working on any head moo-ment?
I praying Rousey gets her old wrinkley face punch in
Donât care about the outcome or RR at all but really glad to see Gina get a big payday.
Wasnât/isnât she a pretty well paid actress? Seems unlikely this is going to pay as much as her movies.
all those bitches knew the armbar was coming, they all trained to defend it
and she still armbarred almost every one of em
Miesha would actually eat out her snatch?
that would be a pay per view spectacle
âI hated him for no reason but liked him once he became useful to meâ
Thats the article in a nutshell lol what a cunt
Someone should have stopped this before it made it to the cage, definitely didnât bring any positive press. Iâm surprised Tito didnât come out with a real body bag and a shovel.
I am pulling for Gina in this fight because Stinky thinks she had to do this to fix Ginaâs weight while acting like she wasnât a fat cow a year or 2 ago. This chick is by far here own worst enemy, always talking, Iâm not sure how she was cleared after saying she has cte but I guess Wandy did or tried to do the same thing.