Earlier this month, Fallon Fox came out as a transgender MMA fighter in an interview with OutSports. She's scheduled to fight in her 3rd MMA fight in April in Florida, but her license is under review. Her opponent for the fight has spoken out saying she should be banned from the sport and others in the MMA community are beginning to speak out on Fox. Liz Carmouche, who lost to Ronda Rousey, has come out in support. Another prominent UFC voice has come out against Fox competing against women in MMA – UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who addressed Fox in a 7 minute rant on a recent podcast.
Bloody Elbow has a transcript of Rogan's commentary, which weaves back and forth between profanity, gender stereotypes, individual rights, Rogan's medical "expertise," and legitimate questions about Fox's MMA future. But it's this soundbyte where he "disagrees" that she's a woman and calls her a "f*cking man" that stands out…
"She calls herself a woman but… I tend to disagree. And, uh, she, um… she used to be a man but now she has had, she's a transgender which is (the) official term that means you've gone through it, right? And she wants to be able to fight women in MMA. I say no f*cking way. I say if you had a d*ck at one point in time, you also have all the bone structure that comes with having a d*ck. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You're a f*cking man. That's a man, OK? You can't have… that's… I don't care if you don't have a d*ck any more."
Below is the full Rogan rant…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=k6_7BOGUXHM
The issue of transgender MMA fighters is a sensitive topic and uncharted territory for the sport (for the love of God don't scroll down to the comments section on any article about Fox), but this kind of commentary isn't really helpful to anyone. Having fellow MMA fighters refer to Fox as "it" is not a good look for the sport either. I know UFC is a different animal and Joe Rogan isn't Cris Collinsworth or Dick Vitale, he doesn't play by those same rules. However, Dana White and co. need to be careful that these kind of primordial views on LGBT issues don't become synonymous with UFC.
