The knives have been out for Edmond Tarverdyan since Ronda Rousey's demise at UFC 207, but not everyone believes that the former bantamweight champion's coach has been doing a bad job.

Julianna Pena was recently overlooked by the UFC to face Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 on Dec. 30, with the promotion instead choosing to go with Rousey who was defeated in just 48 seconds.

Edmond has done wonders

While Pena wasn't exactly happy with the decision, she still made sure she watched the event and has since given her own assessment of Tarverdyan's coaching.

"I think Edmond is great," Pena told Submission Radio. "I think he's the only one that could possibly have handled that chick in that type of setting and been able to put up with her crap. You know what I mean? What he's done for Ronda is wonders. I don't think that anybody could have done a better job than him or that anybody would have put up with as much as bullcrap as he's put up with besides him, so my hat is off to him.

"At the end of the day, it's not necessarily his battle. It's Ronda's battle. Edmond can't get in there and fight for her. So that's what's so hard about this sport, it's live or die by the double-edge sword. You have to be able to perform, like she even said herself, on your worst day possible. And so she wasn't able to perform, and nobody is to blame besides herself. She can't say that she wasn't ready or that she wasn't prepared.

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"She had all the time in the world to get ready for this fight, so I think a lot of people come up with a bunch of excuses. At the end of the day, it's just not your day, and sometimes you just gotta give credit where credit is due, and it was Amanda's night, so that's it."

Rousey is the worst in the UFC

Pena also didn't hold back when it came to talking about Rousey's reluctance to do media work during fight week. Like most, Pena didn't think it was the behavior of a fighter ready for the occasion, and she had a harsh assessment of the former champion's abilities.

"Ronda Rousey is mentally weak and she was literally handpicking her fights from the very beginning, and in my opinion she's the worst girl on the roster," Pena said. "If you take a year off from the sport and you don't train and stuff like that, the sport is going to evolve, and it's going to continue without you. And if you don't take any warm-up fight or any sort of tune-up fight, if you will, then you're going to be in a world of hurt.


"Unfortunately, I don't think anybody is feeling it much more than she is. So my thoughts are with her and every dog has its day and I wish her the best, but at the end of the day, what did she think was going to happen?"

Rousey wants no part of me

Pena will have an opportunity to claim the number-one contender spot outright when she faces Valentina Shevchenko later this month. While fighting for the title remains her ultimate goal, she admitted that being the woman to dethrone Rousey was something she wished she would've done. 

"I think that she was avoiding me all along," Pena said. "I beat her whole team, I ran through her whole entire team on 'The Ultimate Fighter.' When Dana White allowed women into the UFC and she fought one girl in the UFC, I fought four girls and I beat them all, and they were all under Team Rousey.

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"She should have wanted to fight me after I beat her whole team's ass instead of them saying, 'Oh, you're not ready for a title shot. We're going to give you Jessica Andrade instead.' And then I would have beaten Jessica Andrade and they would have said, 'Well, you need a couple more and a couple more.'

"That girl's been dodging me from day one, and she knows it. And that's all I have to say. I think it's very disappointing if she does retire, because yeah, I wasn't the one that was able to dethrone her. But I think she knows at the end of the day that I am a nightmare matchup for her. I'm a nightmare matchup for any of these girls in this division, and she did not want to get locked in the cage with me, and it's as simple as that."