The Ultimate Fighting Championship organization has suspended indefinitely heavyweight Matt Mitrione, saying it was “appalled” by comments he made about transgender Mixed Martial Arts fighter Fallon Fox.
In an interview last week on “The MMA Hour.” Mitrione said Fox had an unfair advantage competing against women, and called her a “disgusting freak” who lied about her gender to “beat up women.”
“He’s chromosomally a man,” said Mitrione.
“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,” he added.
“And I mean that. Because you lied on your license to beat up women. That’s disgusting. You should be embarrassed yourself. And the fact that Florida licensed him because California licensed him or whoever the hell did it, it’s an embarrassment to us as fighters, as a sport, and we all should protest that.
“The woman that’s fighting him, props to you. I hope you beat his ass, and I hope he gets blackballed and never fights again, because that’s disgusting and I’m appalled by that.”
Immediately following the April 8 interview, the UFC said it found Mitrione’s comments “offensive and wholly unacceptable.”
“The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione in an interview today on ‘The MMA Hour.’
“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.
“The UFC is a friend and ally of the LGBT community, and expects and requires all 450 of its athletes to treat others with dignity and respect.”
On March 5, Fox disclosed that she was transgender and had undergone gender reassignment surgery in Bangkok, Thailand in 2006. Fox has had two fights as a professional mixed martial artist, winning both.
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