Travis Browne: "I'm learning how to fight" from Ronda Rousey's coach
Travis Browne definitely knows how to beat people up.
The top five ranked UFC heavyweight has finished six out of his seven wins in the UFC with five coming by way of knockout. He's earned four separate knockout of the night bonuses during that time as well.
Yet to hear Browne tell it he had no clue how to fight until just recently.
"I learned as a fighter I know how to go out there and mess somebody. I know how to go out there and 'F' stuff up, but I don't know how to fight," Browne told FOX Sports. "That's one of the things that I'm learning right now. As a fighter, you kind of don't want to admit that but at the same time I'm not looking to sit here comfortably in the three-spot or four-spot -- I'm going for the championship.
"So any time I have a fight, I have to go back and dissect everything."
Part of Browne's reflection on his career comes from a one-sided loss he experienced earlier this year when facing Fabricio Werdum. The fight was touted as a No. 1 contender's match and now Werdum will battle for the interim UFC heavyweight title this November.
It's only the second time in his career where Browne has experienced a loss and just like the last occasion where it happened, it caused him to look a little deeper to see what went wrong in the first place.
"I did kind of the same thing after Bigfoot (Silva)," Browne said. "For me then it was more of a lifestyle change. It was coming to a realization that I'm only going to have this for a short amount of time so I better take advantage of it and do everything I can do.
"This time I went into that having that mindset, but this time it's more based off of my skill and what I really need to do to take that next step to go fight for the title, win the title and defend it."
A hand injury prevented Browne from jumping right back into training, but once he started to punch again the Hawaiian started working out with Ronda Rousey's head coach, Edmond Tarverdyan in California.
While Browne had great success working under coach Greg Jackson, he started to learn new techniques under Tarverdyan's leadership. Soon enough he was learning how to apply those techniques in a fight.
It was almost as if he knew how to start the car and rev the engine, but Tarverdyan was teaching him to drive for the first time in his career.
"I'm going to do what I need to do to win fights. Right now working with Edmond, it's been an eye opener," Browne said. "I've been learning the ins and outs of the fight game and a little more of the technical side. I'm still a raw athlete and I'm ranked fourth. Now I'm going to learn how to fight and there's going to be some people in trouble."
The next person on Browne's hit list is Brendan Schaub at the upcoming UFC 181 card on December 6. While Browne originally planned on returning to his home camp in New Mexico to finish up his training, he fell in love with the new team led by Tarverdyan he opted to stay there instead.
In about six week's time, Browne will find out for certain if the new team and coaching staff has paid off. So far, he couldn't ask for better results.
"I'm learning how to fight," Browne said. "Just figuring out what I need to do to further myself."
