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Edmen Shahbazyan has come a long way from being Ronda Rousey’s open workout partner at UFC 157

Back in 2013 as Ronda Rousey was just about to make her UFC debut, she put on an open workout for the first time in front of an adoring crowd in Anaheim, Calif.

She hit pads with head coach Edmond Tarverdyan and then practiced her judo throws with a 15-year-old training partner who grew up in the gym alongside her as she transitioned from judo to mixed martial arts. Rousey flipped and tossed him around as she got warmed up with the crowd cheering her on just days away from a seismic moment in combat sports history as she introduced women’s fighting to the UFC.