Dana White does not support transgender women competing in sports against biological women.
The controversy surrounding trans women attempting to participate in female sports has been a hot-button issue for some time. Trans athletes including college-level swimmer Lia Thomas and Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard have faced the brunt of the backlash in recent years. MMA has had its own experience with the controversial subject matter, courtesy of trans fighter Fallon Fox and most recently, Alana McLaughlin.
While Fox has been retired from the sport for many years, McLaughlin brought the debate to the forefront of mixed martial arts once again after making her promotional debut for Combate Global in 2021.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, White was asked for his take on the transgender movement in sports.
“We’re in a very strange place at the moment in sports,” Morgan said. “Where biological males are beginning to dominate biological females in women’s sports because they identify as women. What do you think about that?”
“Let me put it to you this way: I have a daughter, I don’t ever want to see a day where somebody who is a biological male is competing against my daughter,” White replied. “No, I think it’s another nutty, insane thing that’s happening in the world today, that we’re all trying to deal with. My daughter is a cheerleader, she’s not playing any competitive sports. It hasn’t happened in the cheer world yet” (h/t MMA Mania).
Somebody should let Dana White know that male cheerleaders exist and have been part of some of the most elite squads in high school and college competitions for many years. In 2022, transgender NFL cheerleader Justine Lindsay made her debut as part of the Carolina Panthers’ TopCats cheerleaders.
This is certainly not the first time Dana White has had to address the subject. In 2013, the UFC CEO slapped former fighter Matt Mitrione with a suspension after calling trans fighter Fallon Fix a “sick, sociopathic disgusting freak” during an episode of The MMA Hour. However, White made it very clear that he was more concerned with Mitrione doing an interview in the first place and not so much the vile things he said in reference to Fox.