Fallon Fox

Fallon Fox (born November 29, 1975) is an American mixed martial artist (MMA). She is the first openly transgender athlete in MMA history.^[2][3][4]

Early life

Fox was born Boyd Burton in Toledo, Ohio. She recalls struggling with issues relating to gender as early as five or six years old.^[3] As a teenager, Fox believed she may have been a gay male, but learned about the term "transgender" at the age of 17.^[2] Fox continued living as a heterosexual male and married her then-girlfriend at the age of 19 when the latter became pregnant with their daughter. Fox then joined the US Navy to support her new family, serving as an operations specialist on the USS Enterprise.^[3]

After leaving the Navy, Fox enrolled at the University of Toledo, but dropped out citing ongoing psychological stress from her unresolved gender issues.^[3] After leaving college, Fox worked as a truck driver to earn money for sex reassignment surgery. She later moved to Chicago, Illinois with her daughter. In 2006, she traveled to Bangkok, Thailand to undergo gender reassignment surgery, breast augmentation, and hair transplant surgeries at the Bangkok International Hospital.^[3]

Controversy

Fallon Fox came out publicly on March 5, 2013 in an interview with Outsports writer Cyd Zeigler and sportsillustrated.com, after her two initial professional fights.^[5][6] Controversy swelled over confusion with the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) and Florida’s athletic commission over the licensing process Fox chose to complete in Coral Gables. After publications shed light on the licensing procedure and Fox’s coming out many commentators brought up the issue of whether a person born as a male should be able to fight in women’s divisions in MMA fighting.^[6] Most notably, UFC color commentator and stand-up comedian Joe Rogan came out in strong opposition to Fallon Fox receiving licensing on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, as did his guest, MMA personality Bas Rutten.^[7]

Due to controversy and the licensing procedure CFA co-founder Jorge De La Noval, who promoted Fallon's fight on March 2 in Florida, postponed Fox’s April 20 fight. However, De La Noval later stated his organization will not “turn our backs on her… As long as she's licensed, she's always welcome in our promotion. We stand behind her and we give her all of our support."^[3] Fox claimed in her video interview with Cyd Zeigler to be within the rules of organizations like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for postoperative transsexuals and wishes to continue fighting in MMA.

On April 8, 2013, Matt Mitrione, in an appearance on The MMA Hour, vociferously expressed his dislike of Fox. Saying that Fox was "still a man," Mitrione called her an "embarrassment" and a "lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak." UFC quickly condemned his comments and, referring to itself as "a friend and ally of the LGBT community", immediately suspended Mitrione^[8] and fined him an undisclosed amount.^[9] The next day Fox issued a response stating that Mitrione "personally attacked me as a fighter, as a woman, and as a human being".^[10]

Fox and the controversy surrounding her competition in female MMA was a topic on the April 2014 edition of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.^[11]

Possible Advantage

There has been considerable controversy over whether or not Fox possesses an advantage over naturally-born female fighters. In an interview with the New York Post, UFC former women's bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, has stated she would be willing to fight Fox, saying "I can knock out anyone in the world", although she believes Fox has an unfair advantage due to having male bone density and structure. She stated in her interview with TMZ, "if you go through puberty as a man it’s not something you can reverse…There’s no undo button on that." UFC president Dana White stated that "bone structure is different, hands are bigger, jaw is bigger, everything is bigger. I don’t believe in it. I don’t think someone who used to be a man and became a woman should be able to fight a woman.”^[12] Eric Vilain, director of the Institute For Society And Genetics at UCLA, disagreed, stating in Time magazine that "Male to female transsexuals have significantly less muscle strength and bone density, and higher fat mass, than males". Vilain reviewed Fox's medical records and supported her right to fight as a woman.^[2][9]

Vilain, who worked with the Association of Boxing Commissions when they wrote their policy on transgender athletes, was also quoted by Time as saying that, to be licensed, transgender female fighters must undergo complete "surgical anatomical changes ... including external genitalia and gonadectomy" (see sex reassignment surgery) and a minimum of a subsequent two years of hormone replacement therapy, as two years is "the current understanding of the minimum amount of time necessary to obviate male hormone gender related advantages in sports competition". When asked if Fox could, nonetheless, be stronger than her competitors, Vilain replied that it was possible, but noted that "sports is made up of competitors who, by definition, have advantages for all kinds of genetics reasons", and said that it would be discriminatory to treat Fox differently than other athletes with potential genetic advantages.^[9]

Time also noted that, as she has neither testicles nor ovaries, Fox probably has lower testosterone levels than most of her competitors. Fox says that she has less strength and endurance than her female training partner, and that she has to make up for it by perfecting her technique.^[9]

Fox responded to the allegations made by Rogan and Rousey in a guest editorial for bloodyelbow.com. She claimed the advantage of taking estrogen resulted in bone density, which is also a side effect of taking testosterone. She challenged Rogan and Rousey to make such claims about black women, who have been noted scientifically to have the same bone density as white men. Finally, she questioned how a '"male frame"' can produce the massive "punching power" that Rogan speaks of without male muscle mass behind it.^[13]

During Fox's fight against Tamikka Brents, Brents suffered a concussion, an orbital bone fracture, and seven staples to the head. After her loss, Brents took to social media to fuel the controversy surrounding Fox's perceived advantage: "I've fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. I can’t answer whether it’s because she was born a man or not because I’m not a doctor. I can only say, I’ve never felt so overpowered ever in my life and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right,” she stated. "Her grip was different, I could usually move around in the clinch against other females but couldn’t move at all in Fox’s clinch…"^[14]

Mixed martial arts record

Awards

In 2014, Fox was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.^[15]

References