Tag: Fallon Fox

The Unsupportable Opinion: Why Are We Still Talking About Fallon Fox?


(Not pictured: Anything Fallon Fox has actually done in the cage.)

Let me make one thing clear from the very beginning: I’m not trying to say that it wasn’t newsworthy — even inspirational — when Fallon Fox first came out as a transgender MMA fighter. Transgender individuals are extremely prone to harassment, discrimination, violence and bigoted stereotyping — all tragically evident by looking at the Facebook posts and tweets that have been directed at Fox since she came out roughly one month ago. I am in full support of her rights to be socially acknowledged and treated as any other woman would be treated outside of the cage.

Yet during this past month, Fallon Fox has received more attention for simply existing (she’s 0-0 since coming out) than most professionals have received for actually fighting. We’ve seen numerous fighters come forward to offer their opinions on whether or not Fox should be allowed to compete against women. Some have managed to do so in a reasonable, intelligent manner. Others have spoken about “it” as if she isn’t even human. For that matter, even people who aren’t MMA fighters have expressed a willingness to compete against her.

Mind you, this was all before Matt Mitrione called Fox “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak” on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour,” earning him an indefinite suspension from the UFC.

Despite the punishment, UFC fighters are still willing to discuss Fallon Fox — who, let’s remember, doesn’t even fight in the UFC — with reporters. Yesterday, The New York Post published an interview with one of the most talented, popular, and accomplished female fighters of all time, Ronda Rousey. A total of zero questions had anything to do with Rousey’s own future in the sport, instead focusing on how she feels about potentially fighting Fallon Fox:

“She can try hormones, chop her pecker off, but it’s still the same bone structure a man has,” Rousey told The Post. “It’s an advantage. I don’t think it’s fair.”


(Not pictured: Anything Fallon Fox has actually done in the cage.)

Let me make one thing clear from the very beginning: I’m not trying to say that it wasn’t newsworthy — even inspirational — when Fallon Fox first came out as a transgender MMA fighter. Transgender individuals are extremely prone to harassment, discrimination, violence and bigoted stereotyping — all tragically evident by looking at the Facebook posts and tweets that have been directed at Fox since she came out roughly one month ago. I am in full support of her rights to be socially acknowledged and treated as any other woman would be treated outside of the cage.

Yet during this past month, Fallon Fox has received more attention for simply existing (she’s 0-0 since coming out) than most professionals have received for actually fighting. We’ve seen numerous fighters come forward to offer their opinions on whether or not Fox should be allowed to compete against women. Some have managed to do so in a reasonable, intelligent manner. Others have spoken about “it” as if she isn’t even human. For that matter, even people who aren’t MMA fighters have expressed a willingness to compete against her.

Mind you, this was all before Matt Mitrione called Fox “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak” on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour,” earning him an indefinite suspension from the UFC.

Despite the punishment, UFC fighters are still willing to discuss Fallon Fox — who, let’s remember, doesn’t even fight in the UFC — with reporters. Yesterday, The New York Post published an interview with one of the most talented, popular, and accomplished female fighters of all time, Ronda Rousey. A total of zero questions had anything to do with Rousey’s own future in the sport, instead focusing on how she feels about potentially fighting Fallon Fox:

“She can try hormones, chop her pecker off, but it’s still the same bone structure a man has,” Rousey told The Post. “It’s an advantage. I don’t think it’s fair.”

Rousey said Mitrione worded his views “extremely poorly” and believes the UFC was justified in suspending the heavyweight fighter. But she thinks his sentiments came from the right place. In Rousey’s opinion, Mitrione believes Fox is still a man, who wants to beat up women for a living.

“I understand the UFC doesn’t want to be associated with views like that,” Rousey said. “I’m also glad they didn’t straight cut him.”

Speaking of questionable word choices, I can’t help but feel that her usage of the word “pecker” is going to create an overreaction among the mainstream media outlets. But I digress.

It’s right around now — when accomplished athletes such as Ronda Rousey and Alexis Davis are fielding questions about Fallon Fox instead of their own careers — that we in the MMA media need to stop and ask ourselves what we’re actually doing. Are we really respecting a woman’s right to be treated as any other female, or are we treating Fallon Fox like a sideshow and milking her transgender status for as many page views as we can get?

Because — let’s be honest — if we’re truly concerned with treating Fallon Fox the way that we’d treat any other woman, we wouldn’t continue to force her name into interviews and conference calls. As Jonathan Snowden recently argued, Fox is a thirty-seven year old fighter competing in a small-time, regional promotion that even most hardcore MMA fans wouldn’t recognize. She is 2-0 in her professional career, but has yet to fight an opponent who has actually won a professional bout. She has not been offered a contract by the UFC, Invicta, or Bellator. This is all to say that she hasn’t accomplished anything yet that justifies the non-stop media attention that she has received for the past month.

Giving Fox undue attention over her transgender status isn’t embracing her so much as it’s exploiting her. Forcing her into conversations with UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez isn’t being tolerant, it’s being a carnival barker — we’re emphasizing what makes her different in hopes of generating reactions from other people. Emphasizing her reputation over her skills and accomplishments wades into Kimbo Slice territory; that’s bound to make the fans’ reactions that much more harsh when she actually loses. Also, when former UFC heavyweight Sean McCorkle starts looking for ways to involve himself in this story by taking credit for Mitrione’s suspension-earning jokes, it’s safe to say that we’re no longer coming from a place of acceptance.

This doesn’t mean it’s wrong to make the distinction between Fallon Fox the woman and Fallon Fox the fighter. As of now, there is no conclusive evidence that transgender females do not have unfair competitive advantages over their opponents. There is research that suggests that unfair advantages exist. There is also research that suggests they do not. Another “MMA fighter says Fox has/doesn’t have a competitive advantage” article isn’t going to bring anything new to the discussion.

But you know what will bring something new to the discussion? The result of her fight against Allana Jones on May 24th. After that we might be able to gauge what kind of future — if any — she has in our sport. We’ll be able to publish a story about Fox that’s actually pertinent to what she has been doing in the cage. And if we’re truly concerned with treating her as an equal, we can hold off on cramming her into our headlines until then.

@SethFalvo

Attention UFC Fighters: Only Give Interviews With “A Point” From Now On (Whatever That Means)


(Shown wearing the t-shirt of a band that would obviously approve of limiting self-expression.)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Dana White was upset by Matt Mitrione’s appearance on “The MMA Hour” this Monday. I’m not just writing about, you know, his rant against transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox. I’m writing about Matt Mitrione simply agreeing to be on the show.

While addressing reporters at yesterday’s UFC on FOX 7 media conference call, Dana White discussed his stance on Mitrione’s controversial statements. And while he was obviously upset with Mitrione for referring to Fox as “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he seemed to be more annoyed over the fact that “Meathead” was giving what he deemed to be an unnecessary interview. Via MMAmania:

It’s one of those things, it’s just a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? First of all, he didn’t even need to be doing an interview. And I’m going to talk to these guys. The only time these guys need to be doing interviews is leading up to fights. It ended up being a nightmare for him.

What was the point of that interview? There’s no point in it. Now it’s causing him a bunch of headaches and problems for no reason whatsoever. He just fought and he wouldn’t fight again for another few months. And he is still over there enjoying himself in Sweden. What was the point of doing that interview? What was the upside to that interview? There was none. No upside.


(Shown wearing the t-shirt of a band that would obviously approve of limiting self-expression.)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Dana White was upset by Matt Mitrione’s appearance on “The MMA Hour” this Monday. I’m not just writing about, you know, his rant against transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox. I’m writing about Matt Mitrione simply agreeing to be on the show.

While addressing reporters at yesterday’s UFC on FOX 7 media conference call, Dana White discussed his stance on Mitrione’s controversial statements. And while he was obviously upset with Mitrione for referring to Fox as “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he seemed to be more annoyed over the fact that “Meathead” was giving what he deemed to be an unnecessary interview. Via MMAmania:

It’s one of those things, it’s just a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? First of all, he didn’t even need to be doing an interview. And I’m going to talk to these guys. The only time these guys need to be doing interviews is leading up to fights. It ended up being a nightmare for him.

What was the point of that interview? There’s no point in it. Now it’s causing him a bunch of headaches and problems for no reason whatsoever. He just fought and he wouldn’t fight again for another few months. And he is still over there enjoying himself in Sweden. What was the point of doing that interview? What was the upside to that interview? There was none. No upside.

White’s comments create an interesting conundrum for his fighters: Title shots are being given to the most popular fighters – regardless of where they stand in the division – yet fighters are also expected to limit their opportunities to talk to the media. The number of fights you win doesn’t matter nearly as much as the number of tickets you can sell (ask Johny Hendricks), but if you’re coming off of an impressive victory – like Matt was – you’re supposed to decline these “pointless” opportunities to gain new fans. Also, if you’re a relatively unknown prospect who just scored an impressive victory on the preliminary card, you’ll probably be passing up the only opportunities you’ll have to talk to the major media outlets. Deal with it.

The joke of it all is that some of the UFC’s most popular fighters have given some pretty “pointless” interviews in order to build their own fan-bases. Did the world need to read about how Rampage Jackson felt about video games? Or did we need to hear Dan Hardy explain his tattoos to appreciate him as a fighter? Or was Chuck Liddell debating who would win a fight between a gladiator and an Apache warrior really that important? Maybe not in a direct sense, but the freedom that fighters have had to be themselves while talking to the media has been part of the appeal of being an MMA fan for me. I doubt I’m in the minority here.

This isn’t to say that Dana White had no reason to be upset with Matt Mitrione for his over-the-top comments, but rather, that blaming the timing of the interview is not the right solution. Restricting when fighters can give interviews simply because one fighter said something really stupid is no different than the knee-jerk “Let’s create a law to regulate _______” discussions you’ll hear after a tragic news story. Hopefully the UFC does not crack down on when and where fighters can give interviews.

And if they do, well, we haven’t pissed off Bjorn Rebney yet.

@SethFalvo

UFC Suspends Matt Mitrione for “Offensive and Wholly Unacceptable” Comments About Fallon Fox

Despite being fresh off of a nineteen-second knockout victory over Philip De Fries at last weekend’s UFC on FUEL TV 9, it may be a while before we see Matt Mitrione in the Octagon again.

Earlier today, Mitrione was a guest on The MMA Hour, where he wrapped up his appearance with some jokes he had prepared for host Ariel Helwani. He started off with a joke about Aleksander Emelianenko’s unretirement, a joke about how he considered finishing De Fries – a Llyod Irvin student – with a rape choke, and a joke about how transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox should call herself “The Queen of the Buffaloes” in reference to “Silence of the Lambs.”

If he just stopped there, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about his appearance on the show, but he wasn’t done making jokes at Fallon’s expense just yet.

“Holy shit, I have not 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,” Mitrione continued. “Since he’s obviously looking for any way to break or avoid the rules regarding fighting, if he ever fights again – which I hope he doesn’t – but if he ever fights again and loses to a woman, is he going to charge that woman with a hate crime because she imposing on his freedom as a tranny.”

At this point, Ariel Helwani intervened to ask Mitrione why he kept referring to Fallon Fox as a man. This resulted on a fairly heated rant from Meathead, which we have video of after the jump.

Despite being fresh off of a nineteen-second knockout victory over Philip De Fries at last weekend’s UFC on FUEL TV 9, it may be a while before we see Matt Mitrione in the Octagon again.

Earlier today, Mitrione was a guest on The MMA Hour, where he wrapped up his appearance with some jokes he had prepared for host Ariel Helwani. He started off with a joke about Aleksander Emelianenko’s unretirement, a joke about how he considered finishing De Fries – a Llyod Irvin student – with a rape choke, and a joke about how transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox should call herself “The Queen of the Buffaloes” in reference to “Silence of the Lambs.”

If he just stopped there, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about his appearance on the show, but he wasn’t done making jokes at Fallon’s expense just yet.

“Holy shit, I have not 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,” Mitrione continued. “Since he’s obviously looking for any way to break or avoid the rules regarding fighting, if he ever fights again – which I hope he doesn’t – but if he ever fights again and loses to a woman, is he going to charge that woman with a hate crime because she imposing on his freedom as a tranny?”

At this point, Ariel Helwani intervened to ask Mitrione why he kept referring to Fallon Fox as a man. This resulted on a fairly heated rant from Meathead, which we have video of after the jump.


Props: MMAFighting.com

“Because she’s not a he. He’s a he. 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, 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 UFC reacted quickly to Mitrione’s rant, suspending Matt Mitrione and issuing the following statement on their website earlier today:

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.

Here’s what I took away from this:

– That joke he made about the Lloyd Irvin rape case? Perfectly acceptable; probably because he didn’t tweet it.
– Calling Fallon Fox a man is ignorant and transphobic when Joe Rogan isn’t the one doing it.
– Maybe if he just made a video teaching people how to rape her, he wouldn’t have been suspended.
– I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is exactly why the UFC really needs some sort of policy in place to ensure that fighters know where the line is drawn in terms of what is acceptable and unacceptable to say about an issue and what will happen to them if they cross that line (aside from community service, of course). Or rather, why this policy needs to be evenly enforced among all UFC employees.
– Of course, this is all written under the assumption that Meathead’s suspension will leave him on the shelf for an extended period of time. Time will tell how many months he is actually suspended for.

I can’t be the only one who feels this way, right?

@SethFalvo

Fallon Fox Cleared of Wrongdoing in Florida Licensing Fiasco, Now Free to Beat Up Any Woman Who Dares Face Her

A lot has been said regarding the role of transgender athletes in MMA since this whole Fallon Fox controversy was first made public. While some have opted to defend Fallon’s right to fight, citing whatever limited studies on the subject that currently exist, others have chosen to publicly chastise Fox for having an “unfair advantage” or challenge her…him…I’m confused to a fight in the squared circle. In the case of the CagePotato audience, Fox’s unique predicament was met with the usual barrage of seething, ignorant hate and middle school-level sex jokes about ham wallets and hot dog vendors — bump it, you guys.

In either case, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation ruled earlier today that there was insufficient evidence to declare that Fox had committed any fraudulent activities prior to her last bout in Florida. A quick recap of what went down: While applying for a fight license in Florida, Fox claimed that she had already received a license in California, when in reality she had only applied for a license and received a receipt she mistook for a license in return.

Clearly excited, Fox spoke with Outsports about the decision:

A lot has been said regarding the role of transgender athletes in MMA since this whole Fallon Fox controversy was first made public. While some have opted to defend Fallon’s right to fight, citing whatever limited studies on the subject that currently exist, others have chosen to publicly chastise Fox for having an “unfair advantage” or challenge her…him…I’m confused to a fight in the squared circle. In the case of the CagePotato audience, Fox’s unique predicament was met with the usual barrage of seething, ignorant hate and middle school-level sex jokes about ham wallets and hot dog vendors — bump it, you guys.

In either case, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation ruled earlier today that there was insufficient evidence to declare that Fox had committed any fraudulent activities prior to her last bout in Florida. A quick recap of what went down: While applying for a fight license in Florida, Fox claimed that she had already received a license in California, when in reality she had only applied for a license and received a receipt she mistook for a license in return.

Clearly excited, Fox spoke with Outsports about the decision:

It makes me feel vindicated. I feel very happy that they came to the right conclusion. I wasn’t too doubtful that they would. I was pretty sure they would look into it and realize I wasn’t trying to deceive them with what I thought was a license. 

Of course, Fox’s California licensing mistake wasn’t exactly the key issue at the forefront of her case, but I digress. Fox is now scheduled to face Allana Jones at CFA 11 on May 24th, so we’ll just have to wait and see what inevitable controversy evolves out of that fight and go from there.

–J. Jones

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

Hulkamania Wants to Run Wild on Fallon Fox, Brother


(Oh my…when did they take the gloves off?)

By now, you’re all familiar with the story of – and the controversy behind – transgender MMA fighter, Fallon Fox. Debates on whether or not Fox should be allowed to compete against women in the first place have quickly devolved into both sides lobbing reactionary rants and petty insults at each other – and not just here at Cage Potato.

Naturally, the folks at TMZ.com decided that in these tumultuous times, the world needs Hulk Hogan to be the voice of reason, because even they are affected by slow news days every once in a while. Hogan reminds everyone that in his business, anyone who trains, eats their vitamins and says their prayers is capable of stepping into the ring with him. Yes, Hulk Hogan is now the latest person to declare willingness to compete against Fallon Fox, and he did so with all the enthusiasm you’d expect from a famous aging wrestler being asked questions about a transgender MMA fighter instead of his own career.


(Oh my…when did they take the gloves off?)

By now, you’re all familiar with the story of – and the controversy behind – transgender MMA fighter, Fallon Fox.  Debates on whether or not Fox should be allowed to compete against women in the first place have quickly devolved into both sides lobbing reactionary rants and petty insults at each other – and not just here at Cage Potato.

Naturally, the folks at TMZ.com decided that in these tumultuous times, the world needs Hulk Hogan to be the voice of reason, because even they are affected by slow news days every once in a while.  Hogan reminds everyone that in his business, anyone who trains, eats their vitamins and says their prayers is capable of stepping into the ring with him. Yes, Hulk Hogan is now the latest person to declare willingness to compete against Fallon Fox, and he did so with all the enthusiasm you’d expect from a famous aging wrestler being asked questions about a transgender MMA fighter instead of his own career.

“I’ll whip her. I mean I’ll whip him. I’ll whip her…I’m confused. I’ll pin her, submission,” he tells the reporter. Just in case you can’t tell that this is strictly for publicity, “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart chimes in at the end with “If anybody can make money, let’s use ‘em.” It’s somewhere around this point that the entire Fallon Fox controversy officially jumps the shark.

Unfortunately, The Iron Sheik was not available for comment.

@SethFalvo