GLENDALE, Calif. -- Ronda Rousey's mother has had a lot to say about Edmond Tarverdyan, Rousey's coach, in recent weeks. None of it positive.
Rousey and Tarverdyan, though, were demonstrably mum about the topic at a UFC 193 media day Tuesday at Glendale Fighting Club.
"It doesn't matter for me," Tarverdyan said. "We have a fight in front of us Nov. 14. 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. Friendship, anybody. I've always said a mom is a mom and that's it. That's all I have to say."
Rousey had even less to say than her coach.
"Any reaction and response I have for my mother, she's going to hear from me and not a media outlet," Rousey said.
When asked if she had spoken to her mom about the nasty comments, Rousey demurred.
"I really don't think that's anybody's business," she said.
Rousey's mother, AnnMaria De Mars, said in videos released earlier this month by LatiNation that she thinks Tarverdyan is a bad person and disrespectful to women. She also said she would run him over with her car "if there wasn't a law against it." De Mars explained in an interview with Pro MMA that she believes Rousey is causing harm to others by helping Tarverdyan "lure" other athletes to Glendale Fighting Club.
Tarverdyan said it would not affect him or Rousey in training camp for Rousey's main event title fight with Holly Holm at UFC 193 on Nov. 14 in Melbourne, Australia.
"It does not matter," he said. "Nothing surprises. Nothing is gonna change my opinion, my thoughts. I'm focused on the fight."
Rousey, the undefeated 28-year-old champ, did say later in the media day that her outside-the-Octagon distractions disappear temporarily when she enters the gym. It wasn't a direct reference to the situation with her mother, whom she adores and credits with a great deal of her success. But it could have been a vague one.
"That kind of stuff, it just kind of makes me more thankful that I have fighting, because this is the place where I keep my focus and my sanity," Rousey said. "Whatever kind of crazy things that are happening outside of fighting, it just makes me want to go inside the gym more, because this is really my escape from all that.
"The crazier everything is, the more I want to be in here 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. That's the only way I can get away from them, is when I'm in here. It's kind of weird. The more chaotic everything is outside, the better I do in fights. The best performances I've ever had, I was in the most emotional turmoil beforehand. This is what I do to be able to fix myself."