Transgender fighter Fallon Fox has tackled the latest obstacle in her hope to remain a competitor in the state of Florida, and she will be allowed to compete at her next scheduled bout for Championship Fighting Alliance on May 24.
On Tuesday, the Florida Boxing Commission closed the investigation into Fox’s licensing application, which means she will be able to compete in the state in future fighting events.
Fox was issued a fight license by the state in early March, but the application she submitted was under review for “alleged discrepancies.”
“Fallon Fox was issued a Florida license on March 2, 2013. Our Department had been investigating alleged discrepancies in the information provided on the application, and during that investigation Fox’s license was not suspended or frozen; it was still active. The investigation was concluded yesterday,” said Sandi Poreda, Director of Communications for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, in a statement emailed to Bleacher Report on Wednesday. “Currently, there is nothing that would prohibit her from being proposed on a fight card in our state. We have not received any fight cards for future fights for her at this time.”
Fox has been at the center of controversy for the last several weeks after she revealed that while born a male, she underwent extensive treatment and eventually surgery to become female. The 37-year old fighter was competing in the CFA women’s 145-pound tournament where she recently knocked out her opponent in just 39-seconds.
On her application for a fight license, Fox had not disclosed her medical status as a transgender female.
Upon further review, the Florida commission didn’t believe there was enough information to support further action.
“The evidence does not support prosecution of the specified violations of Chapter 548, Florida Statutes, or the rules promulgated thereunder. Therefore this case should be closed,” read a statement by Roger Maas, Assistant General Counsel to the Florida commission.
The MMA world has been buzzing ever since she revealed her transgender status with everyone from UFC commentator Joe Rogan to former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate weighing in on the subject of whether Fox should be allowed to fight women having been born a man.
While several doctors have argued the point of Fox’s body chemistry as to whether or not she should be allowed to fight, the decision to allow her license to remain in tact ultimately came down to the Florida commission who will oversee her next scheduled fight.
That decision has now been made and Fox is cleared and her license remains valid. Her next opponent is scheduled to be 2-1 fighter Allana Jones, who stated as of earlier this week that she would face Fox in the next round of the tournament in May.
The finals of the tournament could come into some question however as Peggy Morgan, who sits on the other side of the bracket opposite of Fox, has stated that she will not face her should the two of them be paired together in the finals of the tournament.
“I do not think there is sufficient hard evidence to show that Fallon does not have physical advantages over the women she has fought,” Morgan said in a statement via her management’s website. “I understand why people are advocating for Fallon and I appreciate that it is important to protect her rights, but I think it should be just as important to protect the safety of the other women in the tournament. Until I am presented with conclusive evidence that a fight with Fallon would, in fact, be fair, I will not be entering the cage with her.”
The CFA tournament will continue regardless with their next event in late May and now Fox has been officially cleared to return to action for her next fight regardless of who she may or may not face if she makes it to the tournament finals.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com