Not everyone gets the chance to say Ronda Rousey is their training partner. However, UFC middleweight fighter Edmen Shahbazyan was just a teen when he shared the gym with the former UFC champion. However, what started as a training partnership eventually turned into a complicated working relationship that ended due to some career setbacks.
The Beginnings of a Mentor-Protege Relationship Between Ronda Rousey and Edmen Shahbazyan
Shahbazyan and Rousey used to train at Glendale Fighting Club. Shahbazyan was just 12 years old when he got into the gym, and he was 15 when Rousey became the UFC champion. So, it is safe to say that Shahbazyan’s journey with Rousey began during his early teens.
In 2013, “The Golden Boy” helped “Rowdy” train for her UFC debut against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. While talking to Dana White before UFC Vegas 5, where Shahbazyan lost against Derek Brunson, Rousey mentioned using him as her throw-in dummy and seeing something special in him.
“Little Eddie, he’s always been special. He’s always been called Neo. He’s the one. He’s one of the first generation of kids who only did MMA. He was obsessed with MMA when I was training at the gym. He was actually like my throw-in dummy for my Carmouche open workout. He was 15 years old, he was still like bigger than me. But he was one of my training partners. He learned armbars from me. He was getting beat up by me,” Rousey said.
“We used to call him Neo; he is the one.”
Even in “Little Eddie’s” early days of MMA, @RondaRousey remembers @edmenshahbazyan being “special” ⭐️ #UFCVegas5 (via @danawhite) pic.twitter.com/CT2gYLY3k1
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 29, 2020
Training with Rousey during her peak had a significant impact on Shahbazyan’s career. As he said on “Just Scrap Radio” on BJPENN.COM, “I kind of experienced that growing up watching her and watching her preparing for those big fights. That helped me a lot growing up and having her by me and watching her fame and her rise to the top. That is an advantage I will have in the future.”
Over time, “Rowdy” went from being his sparring partner to managing his early UFC career through her company, One Fight Management. Talking about his personal and professional relationship with Rousey, Shahbazyan said, “It is cool and awesome having such a big name like her to manage me and represent me. I look at her like an older sister. From a young age, I’ve known her, and it is cool she is doing this for us.”
Shahbazyan also mentioned that Rousey had been one of his biggest inspirations to enter MMA and that he could always ask her for advice. Their journey together began in the early 2010s and continued until 2022.
Why Did Shahbazyan Part Ways With Rousey?
When Shahbazyan joined the UFC in 2018 with an unbeaten record, people had high hopes for him to shake things up in the middleweight division. His early wins boosted Rousey and her team’s confidence in him.
However, things started changing when he went on a three-fight losing streak that started in August 2020 and continued until November 2021. Shahbazyan’s octagon struggles started to cause tension in the camp and made people question if the training was really working. The pressure to meet early expectations, along with the tough competition in the UFC, possibly strained the long-standing relationship with Rousey’s management.
During a 2022 interview with MMA Fighting, “The Golden Boy” confessed, “I needed to change. It was time. It was definitely time for me. It could have been done sooner, but now I’m just happy to be here and get the new work in.”
“I have not talked [to them] since I left. From my end, I have a good relationship [with them]. I don’t have any problem. All respect because I respect what they’ve done for me, but on my end, I’m good,” he added.
Talking about his relationship with Rousey after his departure, Shahbazyan said, “I haven’t talked to [Ronda] in say a few months. I don’t have anything against her, respect from my end. As far as my end, I don’t have no ill will.”
Things probably reached a breaking point when Shahbazyan started getting a “toxic feeling” in his training environment. During a later interview with MMA Fighting, he said, “Back when I was training in Glendale, I feel like my last couple of fights, it was a bit of a toxic feeling and stressful with my surroundings. I had to get away from that.”
Shahbazyan decided to relocate to Las Vegas after that. He is currently managed by Ali Abdelaziz, who has managed fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov and is managing Islam Makhachev, Kamaru Usman, Kayla Harrison, and Justin Gaethje.