You may have heard the controversy surrounding the story of Fallon Fox, a male to female transgender Mixed Martial Arts fighter that has been moving up in the ranks of her professional league. There has been much debate on whether Fox should be allowed to participate in the sport as a female because even though her transition is complete, she still has all the physicality and strength of a man biologically.
But has caused even more discord are the foul, unwarranted comments from other so called professionals in the wrestling fighting league such as Hulk Hogan’s garish comments about Fox’s gender. Even more recently are the downright unacceptable comments from Matt Mitrione who has since been suspended for his public tirade. Here’s more:
As USA Today reports, Matt Mitrione referred to Fallon Fox as a “lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak” in a April 8 appearance on “The MMA Hour.”
“She’s not a he. He’s a he,” Mitrione is quoted in media reports as saying. “He’s chromosomally a man. He had a gender change, not a sex change. He’s still a man. He was a man for 31 years. Thirty-one years. That’s a couple years younger than I am. He’s a man.”
Calling Fox “an embarrassment” to fighters and to the sport, he added, “The woman that’s fighting him, props to you. I hope you beat his a**, and I hope he gets blackballed and never fights again, because that’s disgusting and I’m appalled by that.”
Now I am happy to report how fast the UFC responded to Mitrione’s odious comments and delivered quick sanctions and reprimanded him for his ignorant comments:
According to Yahoo! Sports, the UFC quickly denounced Mitrione’s “transphobic” remarks and moved quickly to suspend him.
The organization finds Mr. Mitrione’s comments offensive and wholly unacceptable and — as a direct result of this significant breach of the UFC’s code of conduct –- Mr. Mitrione’s UFC contract has been suspended and the incident is being investigated,” officials wrote in a statement. “The UFC is a friend and ally of the LGBT community, and expects and requires all 450 of its athletes to treat others with dignity and respect.”
Throughout all the verbal insults that Fox has had to endure she appears to be taking it in stride and continuing forward to pursue her dreams. Let’s hope that wherever her path in this sports leads that she is successful.