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Fallon Fox was the first MMA fighter to come out as transgender. She did not fight in the UFC, but became the subject of controversy throughout the course of their career.
Fox holds a record of 5-1 in professional MMA, with her last fight against Tamikka Brents in 2014 causing uproar amongst the MMA community.
Fox famously beat her opponent so badly that Brents, a female fighter, suffered a broken orbital bone.
Watch as Fox stops her opponent Tammika Brents in under a minute:
This spurred outrage from personalities in the MMA scene. Joe Rogan, on his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience or JRE for short, remarked:
“She calls herself a woman but I tend to disagree. She used to be a man but now she has had, she’s a transgender … And she wants to be able to fight women in MMA. I say no f***ing way. I say if you had a di*k at one point in time, you also have all the bone structure that comes with having a dick. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You’re a fucking man. That’s a man, OK?," Joe Rogan said in a 2018 episode of his podcast.
Watch as Joe Rogan responds to the Fallon Fox situation here:
The UFC has established protocols for transgender fighters, which are as follows:
First, the transgender person has to disclose to the athletic commission that they are transgender. Secondly, the UFC is supposed to monitor their testosterone levels and make sure they are at an acceptable level if they are fighting in the women’s category. They are then expected to go through a series of drug tests like every other athlete.
Thirdly, during the fight week, the UFC monitors their hormonal proportions. And finally, the UFC ensures that their muscle mass and BMI must be within the upper limit prescribed for women.
To this point, none of the transgender athlete has been able to meet these stipulations, which is why they haven't competed in the UFC.
Alana McLaughlin - Another transgender fighter competing in MMA
While Fallon Fox was the first, Alana McLaughlin, seven years later, became the second openly transgender fighter to compete in a mixed martial arts bout. McLaughlin made her debut in Combate Global Episode 19 in September 2021, defeating her opponent, Celine Provost, by submission via rear-naked choke.
Some fans were outraged that McLaughlin was allowed to compete, despite being sanctioned by the governing commission and passed all hormonal tests. Some fans took to Twitter to express their outrage, posting side-by-side pictures of McLaughlin pre and post gender change:
Seeing the pictures raises the question - should transgenders be allowed to compete in MMA?
