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Transgendered Mixed Martial Arts fighter Fallon Fox has a perfect professional record, but now she's battling to stay in the sport in the face of outcry from everyone from opponents to state regulators.Fox, who revealed she was born a man earlier this March, is now having her license approval investigated by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. She is scheduled to fight in the semifinals of Championship Fighting Alliance's eight-woman featherweight tournament on April 20.
'The reaction has been positive,' Fox, 37, told CNN. 'It's just some people, some of society doesn't get it yet. And this is what we're trying to do now is to inform people and let them know about transgender athletes.'Fallon first spoke publicly about her history to Sports Illustrated when she discovered that a journalist with a different publication was investigating her transition.Sports Illustrated's Loretta Hunt, who covered Fox's gender reassignment surgery and victorious pro debut in May 2012, noted that there are already regulations in place for transgender athletes to compete in MMA. MMA guidelines do not require transgender fighters to undergo sex-change surgery. However they do require a minimum of two years hormone therapy, with regular testing. Those rules are similar to the International Olympic Committee's policy, which requires transgender athletes to undergo hormone therapy long enough to negate gender-related advantages. The Association of Boxing Commissions has similar guidelines.
Since the disclosure, her last opponent, Ericka Newsome, has said that it was unfair of Fallon to keep the information secret. Fox knocked out Newsome 39 seconds into the first round with a knee to the chin. Newsome said it was 'unfair I didn't know it, but it didn't matter that she fought me. I feel that it should have been disclosed to me ahead of time...so we are aware and better prepared for the situation.'Newsome will appeal the loss on the grounds that she was unaware Fox was a transgender person and that the referee stopped the fight earlier than he should have. 'They should have let the fight go,' Newsome's manager, Matt Hamilton, said. 'She should have thrown at least one to two more shots to confirm it. On that particular basis, that's one of the things we'll appeal with, as well as not having it disclosed.'Fox disagreed saying she had 'no unfair competitive advantages.'Jorge De La Noval, CEO of Championship Fighting Alliance, said he believes her. Jorge told Mail Online he was unaware of Fox's history when he first signed her to his promotion and that she told him shortly before the story went public. If he had known, he said he still would have given her a contract.
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