Matt Mitrione suspended by UFC for calling transgender fighter Fallon Fox a ‘freak’
Transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox has been a controversial topic of discussion over the last month. The 36-year-old Fox made her MMA debut last may and has beaten two female fighters. After her fight last month, it was revealed that Fox underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2006 and has been receiving hormonal therapy for 10 years.
Her unique situation has resulted in a number of fighters and people involved with MMA feeling that Fox has an unfair advantage and should not be able to fight against women. Matt Mitrione was suspended indefinitely by the UFC on Monday for taking it a step too far and calling Fox “a disgusting freak.”
“I watched one of the fight videos and holy (expletive), I haven’t seen a man beat a woman (like that) since Chris Brown beat Rihanna,” Mitrione told Fuel TV’s Ariel Helwani in an interview with SB Nation on Monday, via FOXSports.com. “That’s exceptional how he beats innocent, unknowing women like that.
“She’s not a he. He’s a he,” Mitrione continued. “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.”
The UFC released a statement regarding Mitrione’s suspension.
“The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione today in an interview on the ‘MMA Hour,’” the statement read. “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.”
While Mitrione’s comments certainly should not be tolerated, it should be noted that the UFC’s pattern of discipline regarding Fox has already been incredibly inconsistent. Joe Rogan was not suspended last month after he said Fox is “a man without a d—” and called it “f—–g crazy” to allow her to fight against women. Even Dana White made some insensitive comments a few weeks ago when he referred to Fox as “he” and “him”
If the UFC is going to discipline fighters for making idiotic remarks about Fox, its front office workers and television personalities should be held to the same standard. You can’t expect a fighter to censor himself when White and Rogan don’t feel the need to do so.
Image via FallonFox.com
