Author: MMA Fighting Newswire

LAS VEGAS — Cat Zingano discusses if she feels she’s been overlooked, the pressure, her style, Miesha Tate and more at the TUF 17 finale workouts at the TUF gym on Thursday.

LAS VEGAS — Miesha Tate discusses why she ended her layoff early, when she’ll consider herself a UFC fighter, a rematch with Ronda Rousey and much more during a media scrum at the TUF 17 finale workouts at the TUF gym on Thursday.

LAS VEGAS — Miesha Tate discusses why she ended her layoff early, when she’ll consider herself a UFC fighter, a rematch with Ronda Rousey and much more during a media scrum at the TUF 17 finale workouts at the TUF gym on Thursday.

LAS VEGAS – Urijah Faber discusses his friendship with Scott Jorgensen, what it will be like to go against him, why he took this fight and much during a pre-fight scrum video at the TUF gym Thursday afternoon.

MMA Fighting has the TUF 17 Finale fight card for the upcoming UFC event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev. on April 13.

In the main event, Urijah Faber will square off against Scott Jorgensen in a bantamweight contest. Also on the card, Miesha Tate squares off against Cat Zingao to become the next TUF coach opposite of Ronda Rousey.

Check out the TUF 17 finale fight card below.

(Spoiler alert: Don’t read below if you want to know TUF finalists.)

Main card (FX at 9 p.m. ET)
Urijah Faber vs. Scott Jorgensen
Uriah Hall vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano
Travis Browne vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Bubba McDaniel vs. Gilbert Smith

Undercard (FUEL at 7 p.m. ET)
Josh Samman vs. Kevin Casey
Luke Barnatt vs. Collin Hart
Dylan Andrews vs. Jimmy Quinlan
Clint Hester vs. Bristol Marunde

Undercard (Facebook)
Cole Miller vs. Bart Palaszewski
Sam Sicilia vs. Maximo Blanco
Justin Lawrence vs. Daniel Pineda

Since mixed martial artist Fallon Fox revealed in March that she was born a man, the transgender fighter has been the subject of debate and scrutiny, by the public, by state sanctioning bodies who oversee athletic competition, by the medical community, and of course, by the men and women who populate the sport.

There has been both support for her inclusion from those who say that years of hormone therapy have eroded any muscle mass, strength and bone density advantages she would have had as a man, and arguments against her participation from those who believe the science on such matters is incomplete. And then there’s the opinion of UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione, who not only objects to Fox competing with women, but sees Fox’s pursuit as “sociopathic.”

That was just one of the choice terms Mitrione used while discussing his feelings on the matter during Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. During his segment of “The Mitrione Minute,” a brief interlude in which he gives his unabashed thoughts on various subjects, Mitrione — appearing via Skype from a bar “somewhere in Europe,” where he was celebrating his UFC on FUEL 9 knockout of Phil De Fries — voluntarily unleashed on Fox, unprompted by any questions.

He began with a story mentioning that he watched the classic film “The Silence of the Lambs” last week, and likened Fox to the film’s antagonist, serial killer Jame Gumb, who went by the nickname “Buffalo Bill.”

“Maybe instead of being ‘the Queen of Swords,’ Fallon Fox should consider being “The King of the Buffalos,” he said.

Repeatedly referring to Fox as “he” and “him,” Mitrione said after viewing Fox’s fight videos, he hadn’t “seen a man beat a woman like that since Chris Brown beat Rihanna. That is exceptional how he just beats innocent, unknowing women like that. Incredible.”

After telling another joke, host Ariel Helwani asked Mitrione, “Why do you hate Fallon Fox so much, and why do you keep calling she a ‘he’?”

“Because she’s not a he. He’s a he,” he said. “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. Six years of taking performance de-hancing drugs, you think is going to change all that? That’s ridiculous.

“That is a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he continued. “And I mean that. Because you lied on your license to beat up women. That’s disgusting. You should be embarrassed yourself. And the fact that Florida licensed him because California licensed him or whoever the hell did it, it’s an embarrassment to us as fighters, as a sport, and we all should protest that. The woman that’s fighting him, props to you. I hope you beat his ass, and I hope he gets blackballed and never fights again, because that’s disgusting and I’m appalled by that.”

It was then mentioned by Helwani that Mitrione, who is usually a light-hearted jokester, had just “taken a turn to serious town,” but Mitrione insisted it was for good reason.

“I’m glad I could make fun of him a little bit because he’s obviously got some mental issues and wants to beat up on women,” he said.

The UFC released a statement about Mitrione’s remarks Monday afternoon.

The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione today in an interview on ” The MMA Hour”.

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.

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.

For what it’s worth, Championship Fighting Alliance’s Allana Jones recently agreed to face Fox on a May 24 card, and the state of Florida has yet to declare any objection to the bout.

(Editor’s note: You can watch Matt Mitrione’s appearance on The MMA Hour below.)