Tag: CFA

[VIDEO] Fallon Fox Defeats Allana Jones via Third Round Submission


Video after the jump.

If we weren’t supposed to be talking about Fallon Fox until her next fight took place, then today the unofficial ban has been lifted. Last night, Fox defeated then 2-1 fighter Allana Jones by way of modified north-south choke at CFA 11. Fox improved her record to 3-0 with the victory, and will now fight Ashlee Evans-Smith for the CFA featherweight tournament championship.

Other than that, there really isn’t much to see here. Believe it or not, a bout between two inexperienced minor-leaguers that was bumped to co-main event status due to the transgender status of one of the participants didn’t produce a memorable scrap.

Also, Allana Jones chose “Dude Looks Like a Lady” as her entrance song.

The video of the fight and commentary are available after the jump.


Video after the jump.

If we weren’t supposed to be talking about Fallon Fox until her next fight took place, then today the unofficial ban has been lifted. Last night, Fox defeated then 2-1 fighter Allana Jones by way of modified north-south choke at CFA 11. Fox improved her record to 3-0 with the victory, and will now fight Ashlee Evans-Smith for the CFA featherweight tournament championship.

Other than that, there really isn’t much to see here. Believe it or not, a bout between two inexperienced minor-leaguers that was bumped to co-main event status due to the transgender status of one of the participants didn’t produce a memorable scrap.

Also, Allana Jones chose “Dude Looks Like a Lady” as her entrance song.

The video of the fight and commentary are available after the jump.

– If Allana Jones was a significant step up in competition for Fallon Fox, then I can only imagine how hapless the first two cans she fought were. Jones can take a punch – and opted to take many throughout the fight – but has little else to work with at this point in her career. Make no mistake, just because you can be a professional fighter doesn’t mean that you should be.

– After watching Fallon Fox fight, it’s impossible to disagree with Peggy Morgan when she wrote that Fox “definitely didn’t display the sort of technical mastery she claims to possess.” While Fox – a jiu-jitsu purple belt – looked comfortable on the ground, her stand-up left a lot to be desired. From constantly leaving her chin up and hands down to the lack of head movement she displayed, her striking needs a lot of work.

– Whether or not Fox holds a competitive advantage over the women she is competing against is still open for debate, but it’s safe to officially kill the idea that Fox is at a disadvantage competing against women for the two, maybe three people who actually believed it. If Allana Jones looked timid throughout the fight, it was out of respect for Fox’s strength. And yes, I’m well aware that this entire paragraph may be one of the most “No shit, Sherlock” moments in CagePotato.com’s history.

– Did anybody tell the referee that he’s supposed to be watching for eye pokes? I counted three that went completely ignored.

– Speaking of which, the fans booed Fox in the first round when she attacked Jones after Jones appeared to be poked in the eye. While there is absolutely nothing cheap about continuing to fight when the referee doesn’t stop the fight (also known as that thing you’re supposed to be doing in the first place), Fox goes on to throw a punch at Jones in the second round when Jones tries to touch gloves with her. Not exactly a great way to earn fans when there are already whispers that you’re kind of an asshole.

– Heading into the bout, Fox felt that a victory would put her “only four or five fights away from the UFC.” No comment.

– Since we’re on the subject (sort-of): The Best States To Be A Transgender High School Athlete, via Deadspin.

– Oh yeah, Mike Kyle won his un-retirement fight against Othereem late-replacement Travis Wiuff, since you all cared so deeply about that one.

Based solely on her skills and opponents, should we go back to not talking about Fallon Fox after her fight against Ashlee Evans-Smith? Let us know how you feel. Keep it civil.

@SethFalvo

Cain Velasquez Says Fallon Fox Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Fight Women; Fox’s Prospective Opponents Seem to Agree


(Props: Toby Newell via mmafanmade.tumblr.com)

With all of the controversy surrounding the career of transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, it should come as little surprise that reporters have been asking athletes — regardless of their sexes — for their take on whether or not she should be allowed to fight. The latest fighter to voice his opinion on the controversial competitor is none other than UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who isn’t as open to the idea of allowing Fox to fight against other women as some of us are.

Like many people, Velasquez believes that Fox holds an unfair advantage over her competition, and should only be allowed to fight other transgender athletes. Via MMAFighting:

“I don’t think she should be able to fight women,” Velasquez flatly responded when asked about Fox at a recent media luncheon.

“Having the same bone structure and everything else as a man, I think definitely does give her an advantage.”

“Maybe have a separate [division], I guess,” the UFC heavyweight champion finished. “I don’t know. But I don’t think that’s fair.”

Even though the champion’s comments don’t exactly bring any new ideas to the discussion, they’re interesting due to their timing. Over the course of the past week, Fox has seen one opponent withdraw from an upcoming CFA featherweight tournament bout against her, and her proposed replacement opponent holding off on signing the bout agreement. Her initial semifinal adversary — a 6’1” female named Peggy “The Daywalker” Morgan — has made it very clear that she backed out under the belief that she is at an unfair disadvantage. After discussing her decision on Inside MMA, she has since released a follow-up statement through Relentless Sports Marketing, which includes the following passage:


(Props: Toby Newell via mmafanmade.tumblr.com)

With all of the controversy surrounding the career of transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, it should come as little surprise that reporters have been asking athletes — regardless of their sexes — for their take on whether or not she should be allowed to fight. The latest fighter to voice his opinion on the controversial competitor is none other than UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who isn’t as open to the idea of allowing Fox to fight against other women as some of us are.

Like many people, Velasquez believes that Fox holds an unfair advantage over her competition, and should only be allowed to fight other transgender athletes. Via MMAFighting:

“I don’t think she should be able to fight women,” Velasquez flatly responded when asked about Fox at a recent media luncheon.

“Having the same bone structure and everything else as a man, I think definitely does give her an advantage.”

“Maybe have a separate [division], I guess,” the UFC heavyweight champion finished. “I don’t know. But I don’t think that’s fair.”

Even though the champion’s comments don’t exactly bring any new ideas to the discussion, they’re interesting due to their timing. Over the course of the past week, Fox has seen one opponent withdraw from an upcoming CFA featherweight tournament bout against her, and her proposed replacement opponent holding off on signing the bout agreement. Her initial semifinal adversary — a 6’1” female named Peggy “The Daywalker” Morgan — has made it very clear that she backed out under the belief that she is at an unfair disadvantage. After discussing her decision on Inside MMA, she has since released a follow-up statement through Relentless Sports Marketing, which includes the following passage:

[Fallon Fox] claims that any woman who refuses to fight her is really just scared. This is absolutely delusional. Before the news of Fallon’s sexual reassignment broke, I remember watching her warm up for her March 2nd fight and wondering how she’d finished all her opponents so quickly. I mean, she looked okay, but she definitely didn’t display the sort of technical mastery she claims to possess.

Ultimately, I do not think there is sufficient hard evidence to show that Fallon does not have physical advantages over the women she has fought. 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.

For what it’s worth, Fox not only posted a rebuttal to Morgan’s statements on Sunday, but an even longer, far more detailed one to her Facebook page on Wednesday — both of which seem to miss Morgan’s point entirely. Essentially, they both argue that Morgan has no right to complain about unfair advantages when she’s a 6’1” woman. Of course, the difference here is that Morgan didn’t elect to have surgery to make herself taller.

As of writing this, CFA has announced that Allana Jones will sub in for Morgan, but Jones has opted to wait until April 5th to decide whether or not she’ll sign the bout agreement. While Fox’s management might not be acting too concerned, the recent news surrounding their fighter’s medical history appears to be affecting their ability to find opponents for Fox. Regardless of what the Florida State Boxing Commission decides about her license, Fox won’t have a long career if other women aren’t willing to fight her.

At this rate, the proposed wrestling match against Hulk Hogan may be more likely to come to fruition than we originally assumed.

@SethFalvo

Transgender MMA Fighter Fallon Fox Faces Licensing Controversy After Latest Win in Florida


(Huh. I was actually leaning towards Germany on this one. Photo via facebook.com/FallonFoxOfficial)

On Saturday, a female fighter named Fallon Fox scored a 39-second knockout against Ericka Newsome at CFA 10 in Coral Gables, Florida, extending her combined amateur/professional MMA record to 5-0, with all wins by first-round stoppage. This wouldn’t be particularly newsworthy, except for two reasons:

1) Fox just came out publicly as transsexual. She was born a male, and had gender re-assignment surgery in 2006, along with supplemental hormonal therapy. As Loretta Hunt reports, Fox is the first transgender person on record, male or female, to compete in MMA.

2) On her application for MMA licensure in Florida before the fight, Fox incorrectly claimed that she had been licensed by the California State Athletic Commission earlier this year. According to CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster, Fox’s application was still under review, and the CSAC had only mailed Fox a receipt for her initial $60 application. Fox claims that she didn’t intentionally misrepresent herself to the Florida commission, and believed she had been approved by California. At any rate, Fox didn’t disclose her transgender status on her Florida application because she wasn’t asked to, and none of this was revealed until after she KO’d Newsome with a knee to the face.


(Huh. I was actually leaning towards Germany on this one. Photo via facebook.com/FallonFoxOfficial)

On Saturday, a female fighter named Fallon Fox scored a 39-second knockout against Ericka Newsome at CFA 10 in Coral Gables, Florida, extending her combined amateur/professional MMA record to 5-0, with all wins by first-round stoppage. This wouldn’t be particularly newsworthy, except for two reasons:

1) Fox just came out publicly as transsexual. She was born a male, and had gender re-assignment surgery in 2006, along with supplemental hormonal therapy. As Loretta Hunt reports, Fox is the first transgender person on record, male or female, to compete in MMA.

2) On her application for MMA licensure in Florida before the fight, Fox incorrectly claimed that she had been licensed by the California State Athletic Commission earlier this year. According to CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster, Fox’s application was still under review, and the CSAC had only mailed Fox a receipt for her initial $60 application. Fox claims that she didn’t intentionally misrepresent herself to the Florida commission, and believed she had been approved by California. At any rate, Fox didn’t disclose her transgender status on her Florida application because she wasn’t asked to, and none of this was revealed until after she KO’d Newsome with a knee to the face.

“Our department is currently investigating allegations pertaining to the information provided on [Fox’s] application,” wrote Sandi Copes Poreda, Director of Communications for Florida’s Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation. “The Florida State Boxing Commission is in the process of updating the rules for professional MMA events and this topic [of transgender fighter applications] will be included in an upcoming workshop on changes to the administrative rules.”

While Fox could face some consequences for competing with an ill-gotten license, her current promotional home Championship Fighting Alliance is giving her its full support: “We stand 120,000 percent behind Fallon,” CFA CEO Jorge De La Nova said. “She’s a female. She’s a very sweet girl. There’s a lot of money on the line for her, and she’s performed very well. We’re going to give her a couple of weeks to see how this thing turns out.”

Fox had been scheduled to compete on April 20th in the quarterfinals of CFA’s ongoing eight-woman featherweight tournament, but that event has temporarily been put on hold.

As Fox said in a new interview with OutSports, “These past six years, people have seen me as a woman, not a transsexual. People in the gym, people I train with, it’s been great, it’s been awesome. I’m just a woman to them. I don’t want that to go away. It’s unfortunate that it has to…I’m technically, legally, physically and mentally female. Everything about me is female.”

Check out the preview for an upcoming documentary about Fox below, and let us know what you think: Does Fallon deserve equal treatment as a woman in the sport, even if she wasn’t born that way? Or does being transgender constitute an unfair competitive advantage?


(Props: YouTube.com/OutSports)

Hot Potato: 26 Photos of CFA Super-Babe Nicole Mejia

You already know that the Florida-based Championship Fighting Alliance has the hottest roster of ring girls out of any regional MMA promotion. So why don’t we get to know one of these ladies a little better today? Nicole Mejia is a model/actress based in Fort Lauderdale, who is also a full-time nursing student when she’s not holding round cards for CFA and traveling around the world for modeling gigs. She’s of Columbian and Italian descent, has been modeling for about two years, and enjoys working out and dancing.

Check out a glorious hand-picked selection of Nicole Mejia photos in our gallery after the jump, and get to know her even better on her Facebook and Twitter pages.

You already know that the Florida-based Championship Fighting Alliance has the hottest roster of ring girls out of any regional MMA promotion. So why don’t we get to know one of these ladies a little better today? Nicole Mejia is a model/actress based in Fort Lauderdale, who is also a full-time nursing student when she’s not holding round cards for CFA and traveling around the world for modeling gigs. She’s of Columbian and Italian descent, has been modeling for about two years, and enjoys working out and dancing.

Check out a glorious hand-picked selection of Nicole Mejia photos in our gallery above, and get to know her even better on her Facebook and Twitter pages.

[VIDEO] This CFA Ring Girl Shoot Will Make You Forget That the UFC is a Thing

Being that I own a computer and all, I find that calendars sit very low on the “Things I Desperately Need to Purchase” list whenever I manage to escape my man cave and venture into the human world. That said, I may just have to put off purchasing that Bosch 1274DVS 3 x 21 in. Variable Speed Belt Sander the next time I make a trip to the local mini-mall, because not only do octagon girls Brittney Palmer and Arianny Celeste have some damn fine looking calendars in store for us, but apparently so do the girls from Championship Fighting Alliance.

We know what you’re thinking: “I’ve never heard of CFA before; will that impede my ability to enjoy the calendar shoot you’ve placed before me?” Well that depends; Do you have to own a Shake Weight to enjoy the commercials? That’s what we thought, so enjoy the video and keep up on all the CFA ring girl happenings over at their official website.

–J. Jones

Being that I own a computer and all, I find that calendars sit very low on the “Things I Desperately Need to Purchase” list whenever I manage to escape my man cave and venture into the human world. That said, I may just have to put off purchasing that Bosch 1274DVS 3 x 21 in. Variable Speed Belt Sander the next time I make a trip to the local mini-mall, because not only do octagon girls Brittney Palmer and Arianny Celeste have some damn fine looking calendars in store for us, but apparently so do the girls from Championship Fighting Alliance.

We know what you’re thinking: “I’ve never heard of CFA before; will that impede my ability to enjoy the calendar shoot you’ve placed before me?” Well that depends; Do you have to own a Shake Weight to enjoy the commercials? That’s what we thought, so enjoy the video and keep up on all the CFA ring girl happenings over at their official website.

–J. Jones