This article looks at the question of: Is it okay for transgender people to fight in MMA? As a very fit and active person who is trans, the “trans in sport” question is on my mind. However, I’m no fighter. So the “trans in combat sports” question is a new one for me. It’s something that many people are interested in. And the way the question is formed reveals some interesting assumptions and vague areas. We’re going to have to unpack things in “Is it okay for transgender people to fight in MMA?”: What does “okay” mean here? What does “transgender people” mean here?
Transgender people in combat sports
Let’s tackle the “transgender people” aspect first. You can broadly categorise transgender people as those who are feminising themselves and those who are masculinising themselves. Thus, there are four basic ways this question plays out and we’re using a variety of combat sports to gather examples:
One: An MTF person fighting in the women’s competition – e.g. Fallon Fox.
This scenario triggers lots of table-thumping and indignance from commentators and spectators. This is especially so in situations like when a video of Fox’s bout with cis-female Ericka Newsome was spread about. In it, Fallon Fox is said to fracture Newsome’s skull. One comment was “We used to call this violence against women. Now we call it a victory for trans rights.” Except the video is fake. Fox did fight Newsome and knock her out, but it was with a knee to the chin (a totally legal move). That said, in a different bout, Fox did cause an orbital bone fracture on another fighter, cis-woman Tamikka Brents, but that injury is so common in MMA overall as to be routine. To call it a “fractured skull” is like calling a broken toe a “broken leg”.
Two: An MTF person fighting in the men’s competition – e.g. Gita-Maria Figueroa.
Caveat: despite adopting a high-femme appearance and using female pronouns, Figueroa prefers to identify as a “trans person” not a “woman”. The video of her loss to Shane Mistretta has a lot of gloating and celebration from commenters. The undercurrent of the comments is to celebrate the narrative of a trans-woman getting bashed and “put in her place”. Meanwhile, Figueroa’s victory over cis-male Gregorio Gonzalez is studiously ignored by the same people. In scenario 2, we should also mention the boundary-breaking Parinya Charoenphol (formerly Nong Toom). A muay thai fighter and boxer who fought as a kathoey (aka “ladyboy”) in 1998. The world was fascinated. A movie was made. Anyway, she surgically transitioned in 2006. Over the following decade, she fought both cis-men and cis-women, with moderate success against both genders.
Three: An FTM person fighting in the women’s competition, OR a cis-woman taking performance-enhancing drugs that have a masculinising side-effect – e.g. Gabi Garcia.
Someone taking these medications to transition is the same in functional outcome as someone taking them to gain a physical advantage. An example might be Gabi Garcia, a cis-woman who is taller, stronger, heavier and faster than most male fighters. She tested positive for estrogen blockers and was subsequently stripped of her 2013 IBJJF World Championship. There is rampant speculation that Garcia takes testosterone and is a trans-man “living stealth” by still pretending to be a cis-woman. That sort of speculation is offensive, but it does throw light on one of the most intriguing and under-examined aspects of the whole “trans in sports” issue. That is, what is the status of cis-women who take performance enhancing drugs with masculinising side-effects and trans-men who take masculinising drugs with performance-enhancing side-effects?
Four: An FTM person fighting in the men’s competition – e.g. boxer Patricio Manuel.
Manuel, AFAB, is a boxer who wishes he could compete more, except that cis-male opponents usually refuse to get into the ring with him. First competing as a female boxer in US Olympic trials in 2012, Manuel left the sport for a few years to transition to male. On returning to elite boxing, there were new barriers in his way because no-one knew how to deal with the questions his gender history posed. The coverage of Manuel’s situation has this illuminating quote: “The California State boxing commission was reluctant to allow him to fight. Manuel was only cleared to fight shortly after the International Olympic Committee in 2016 advised that female-to-male athletes can compete without any restriction.”
It’s not fair!
The debate almost always defaults to arguing over scenario 1 – the MTF person who fights in the women’s division. Why is this? It probably has a lot to do with the aspect of whether scenario 1 is “okay?” Or, in other words, is it “fair”? (Meanwhile, scenario 4 just gets hand-waved away by the IOC). If the fairness question is actually about fairness, then just look at weight divisions in boxing. They were introduced through the 19th and 20th Centuries to try to make things “fairer” in bouts between male boxers of different sizes.
In the past, a middleweight might step into the ring with a heavyweight … and get utterly destroyed (or rarely the other way around, such as the 1919 world title bout in which Jack Dempsey wiped the floor with Jess Willard who was much taller, stronger and heavier). Over time, manipulating the weight division system became central in training for and participating in combat sports. Is this fair? Or has it become fair through custom?
If the question of fairness is approached in good faith – that is, as an attempt to level the playing field and improve the sport all round – then it can be worked towards through negotiation and compromise. Trans people exist, they want to participate, make room for them and they make room for you.
If “fairness” is approached as whether something is “right” or about “protecting real women” then you’re dealing with someone’s subconscious values. There is no way for that person to negotiate: their sense of self is at stake. For that person to compromise on the issue, would be to accept and inflict self-harm. Not going to happen.
Gender highway
As I write this article, I’m reminded of a metaphor I once used to characterise how broader society feels about trans people. I call it the Gender Highway Metaphor.
Imagine the garden-variety cisgendered person as a regular motorist driving along a highway. There’s a social contract at work. If the motorist follows the “rules of the road” – i.e. conventional gender roles – then they have the right to expect everyone else will too. And traffic will flow merrily along.
To this “gender motorist”, the MTF person is the classic roadway villain: the lycra-clad cyclist. Flamboyantly dressed, they hog and clog a lane. They are obstinate and obtrusive, but also vulnerable and exposed. The “lycra lout” is seen to shirk responsibility for their own safety and place it all upon the motorist: “I’m going to do something that upsets your social contract and YOU have to look out for ME while I do it”. Fists are shaken and insults are hurled. Meanwhile, the FTM person is seen as a silly child, innocently and stupidly playing ball on the curb as cars race past inches away. Gasps are made and pearls are clutched.
So, if you want to start tackling the question of “Is it okay for transgender people to fight in MMA?” Ask yourself what kind of transgender person you’re thinking about. Ask yourself how and why they’re choosing to compete. Ask yourself what sort of pressures their sport puts them under.