Fallon Fox

{{Infobox martial artist

| name = Fallon Fox

| nickname = The Queen of Swords

| image = Fallon Fox.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Fox

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|11|29}}

| birth_place = Toledo, Ohio, U.S.

| height = {{height|ft=5|in=7}}

| weight = {{convert|135|lb|kg st|abbr=on}}

| weight_class = Featherweight (2012–present)

| reach_in = 70

| style =

| stance =

| fighting_out_of = Schaumburg, Illinois, U.S.

| team = Midwest Training Center

| rank =

| years_active = 2012–2014

| mma_kowin = 3

| mma_subwin = 2

| mma_decwin =

| mma_koloss = 1

| mma_subloss =

| mma_decloss =

| mma_draw =

| mma_nc =

| sherdog = 100599

| footnotes =

| updated =

}}

Fallon Fox (born November 29, 1975) is an American former mixed martial artist (MMA), and the first MMA fighter who is openly transgender.{{cite news |last1=Bishop |first1=Greg |last2=Begg |first2=Jack |title=For Transgender Fighter Fallon Fox, There Is Solace in the Cage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/sports/for-transgender-fighter-fallon-fox-there-is-solace-in-the-cage.html |date=May 10, 2013 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512161721/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/sports/for-transgender-fighter-fallon-fox-there-is-solace-in-the-cage.html |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Hunt |first=Loretta |title=How Fallon Fox became the first known transgender athlete in MMA |url=https://www.si.com/mma/2013/03/07/fallon-fox-profile |work=SportsIllustrated.CNN.com |date=March 7, 2013 |access-date=2016-08-29 |archive-date=2016-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906185729/http://www.si.com/mma/2013/03/07/fallon-fox-profile |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |title=21 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture |url=https://time.com/130734/transgender-celebrities-actors-athletes-in-america/ |magazine=Time |access-date=2014-06-04 |archive-date=2016-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805093258/http://time.com/130734/transgender-celebrities-actors-athletes-in-america/ |url-status=live}}

Early life

Fox was born in Toledo, Ohio. She recalls struggling with her gender as early as age five or six. As a teenager, Fox believed she may have been a gay man, but learned the term "transgender" at the age of 17. Fox continued living as a heterosexual man 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 and served as an operations specialist on the USS Enterprise.

After leaving the navy, Fox enrolled at the University of Toledo, but dropped out after ongoing psychological stress from her unresolved gender issues.

After leaving college, Fox worked as a truck driver in order to afford sex reassignment surgery.{{Cite web |date=2013-05-21 |title=Fallon Fox: The Ultimate Fighting Conundrum |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/mma--fallon-fox--transgender-mma-fighter-controversy-043035215.html |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=Yahoo Sports |language=en-US}} Fox and her daughter moved to Chicago, Illinois, and in 2006, Fox traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, to undergo feminizing gender reassignment surgery, breast augmentation, and hair transplant surgeries at a hospital in Bangkok.

Mixed martial arts career controversy

{{See also|Transgender people in sports|Sex verification in sports}}

Fallon Fox came out as transgender on March 5, 2013, during an interview with Outsports writer Cyd Zeigler and Sports Illustrated, following her two initial professional fights in the women's division.{{cite web |last=Zeigler |first=Cyd |author-link=Cyd Zeigler Jr. |title=Fallon Fox Comes Out as Trans Pro MMA Fighter |url=http://www.outsports.com/2013/3/5/4068840/fallon-fox-trans-pro-mma-fighter |date=March 5, 2013 |work=Outsports |access-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-date=May 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522172745/http://www.outsports.com/2013/3/5/4068840/fallon-fox-trans-pro-mma-fighter |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Hunt |first=Loretta |title=Transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox faces licensing problems |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mma/news/20130305/fallon-fox-transgender-mma/ |work=SportsIllustrated.CNN.com |date=March 5, 2013 |access-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-date=May 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521025425/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mma/news/20130305/fallon-fox-transgender-mma/ |url-status=dead}} 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 woman who was assigned male at birth should be able to fight in women's divisions in MMA fighting.{{Failed verification|date=October 2021}}

UFC color commentator and stand-up comedian Joe Rogan opposed Fallon Fox receiving licensing, saying,{{cite web |last=Noble |first=McKinley |title=UFC's Joe Rogan to Transgender MMA Fighter Fallon Fox: 'You're a F***ing Man' |url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1573044-ufc-joe-rogan-to-transgender-mma-fighter-fallon-fox-youre-a-man |date=March 19, 2013 |work=Bleacher Report |publisher=Turner Broadcasting System |access-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-date=April 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419014118/http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1573044-ufc-joe-rogan-to-transgender-mma-fighter-fallon-fox-youre-a-man |url-status=live}}

First of all, she's not really a she. She's a transgender, post-op person. The operation doesn't shave down your bone density. It doesn't change. You look at a man's hands and you look at a woman's hands and they're built different. They're just thicker, they're stronger, your wrists are thicker, your elbows are thicker, your joints are thicker. Just the mechanical function of punching, a man can do it much harder than a woman can, period.

Due to controversy and the licensing procedure CFA co-founder Jorge De La Noval, who promoted Fox'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." Fox claimed in her video interview with Cyd Zeigler to be within the rules of organizations such as 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, said that Fox was "still a man", and called Fox an "embarrassment" and a "lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak". UFC "was appalled by the transphobic comments" he made,[https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-suspends-matt-mitrione-transphobic-comments-regarding-fallon-230051067--mma.html UFC suspends Matt Mitrione for transphobic comments regarding Fallon Fox] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119154129/https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-suspends-matt-mitrione-transphobic-comments-regarding-fallon-230051067--mma.html |date=2017-01-19 }}, by Kevin Iole, 2013-04-09 13:00, for Yahoo Sports and, referring to itself as "a friend and ally of the LGBT community", immediately suspended Mitrione,{{cite web |last=Wong |first=Curtis M. |title=Matt Mitrione, UFC Fighter, Suspended After Transphobic Fallon Fox Rant |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/matt-mitrione-fallon-fox-suspended_n_3045308.html |date=April 9, 2013 |work=HuffPost |access-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512171527/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/matt-mitrione-fallon-fox-suspended_n_3045308.html |url-status=live}} and fined him an undisclosed amount. The next day Fox issued a response stating that Mitrione "personally attacked me as a fighter, as a woman, and as a human being".{{cite web |title=Fallon Fox responds to Matt Mitrone |url=http://hereisyourwinner.com/2013/04/fallon-fox-responds-to-matt-mitrione/ |date=April 9, 2013 |work=HereIsYourWinner.com |access-date=May 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414041746/http://hereisyourwinner.com/2013/04/fallon-fox-responds-to-matt-mitrione/ |archive-date=April 14, 2013 |url-status=usurped}} Mitrione's suspension was lifted after two weeks when his next fight against Brendan Schaub was announced.{{cite web |url=http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/04/matt-mitrione-no-longer-suspended-meets-brendan-schaub-at-ufc-on-fox-8 |title=Matt Mitrione no longer suspended, meets Brendan Schaub at UFC on FOX 8 |publisher=MMAjunkie.com |date=April 24, 2013 |access-date=December 26, 2021}}

Whether or not Fox possesses an advantage over cisgender female fighters was a topic on the April 2014 edition of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.{{Cite web |date=2014-04-26 |title=Fallon Fox featured on HBO's 'Real Sports' - Newsday |url=https://www.newsday.com/sports/mixed-martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts-mma-blog-ufc-fightin-words-newsday-com-1.811935/fallon-fox-featured-on-hbo-s-real-sports-1.7788409 |access-date=2020-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426220147/https://www.newsday.com/sports/mixed-martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts-mma-blog-ufc-fightin-words-newsday-com-1.811935/fallon-fox-featured-on-hbo-s-real-sports-1.7788409 |archive-date=2014-04-26}}

In an interview with the New York Post, former UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey stated she would be willing to fight Fox, saying "I can knock out anyone in the world",{{citation |url=https://www.foxsports.com/ufc/haymaker/story/ronda-rousey-transgender-fighter-has-unfair-advantage-but-i-ll-knock-her-out-anyway-091914 |title=Ronda Rousey: Transgender fighter has 'unfair advantage,' but I'd knock her out anyway |date=September 19, 2014 |work=Fox Sports |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-05-03 |archive-date=2019-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502193252/https://www.foxsports.com/ufc/haymaker/story/ronda-rousey-transgender-fighter-has-unfair-advantage-but-i-ll-knock-her-out-anyway-091914 |url-status=live}} although she believes Fox has male bone density and structure, leading to an unfair advantage.{{Cite web |url=http://en.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/201830.html |title=Rousey: Chop Fox's pecker off but she's still got man bones |date=September 19, 2014 |publisher=ESPN |language=en-GB |access-date=2016-11-24 |archive-date=2017-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202000928/http://en.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/201830.html |url-status=live}} In an interview with Out, Rousey said, "I feel like if you go through puberty as a 'man' it's not something you can reverse. ... There's no undo button on that."{{Cite news |url=https://www.out.com/sports/2015/7/16/ufc-womens-champ-refuses-fight-trans-athlete-fallon-fox |title=UFC Women's Champ Refuses to Fight Trans Athlete Fallon Fox |date=2015-07-16 |access-date=2017-06-26 |language=en |archive-date=2017-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628104125/https://www.out.com/sports/2015/7/16/ufc-womens-champ-refuses-fight-trans-athlete-fallon-fox |url-status=live}} UFC president Dana White claimed that "bone structure is different, hands are bigger, jaw is bigger, everything is bigger" and said, "I don't think someone who used to be a man and became a woman should be able to fight a woman."{{cite news |url=http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/19/rousey-wont-fight-transgendered-mmaer-fallon-fox |title=Rousey won't fight transgendered MMAer Fallon Fox|newspaper=Toronto Sun|access-date=1 June 2017 |date=2014-09-19 |archive-date=2017-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805103036/http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/19/rousey-wont-fight-transgendered-mmaer-fallon-fox |url-status=live}}

During Fox's fight against Tamikka Brents on September 13, 2014, Brents suffered a concussion, an orbital bone fracture, and seven staples to the head in the 1st round. After her loss, Brents took to social media to convey her thoughts on the experience of fighting Fox: "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."{{cite web |url=http://www.cagepotato.com/after-being-tkod-by-fallon-fox-tamikka-brents-says-transgender-fighters-in-mma-just-isnt-fair/ |title=After Being TKO'd by Fallon Fox, Tamikka Brents Says Transgender Fighters in MMA 'Just Isn't Fair' - Cagepotato |website=cagepotato.com |date=19 April 2017 |access-date=1 June 2017 |archive-date=11 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611052040/http://www.cagepotato.com/after-being-tkod-by-fallon-fox-tamikka-brents-says-transgender-fighters-in-mma-just-isnt-fair/ |url-status=live}}

Eric Vilain, the director of the Institute For Society And Genetics at UCLA, worked with the Association of Boxing Commissions when they wrote their policy on transgender athletes. He stated in Time magazine that "Male to female transsexuals have significantly less muscle strength and bone density, and higher fat mass, than males"{{cite magazine |last=Gregory |first=Sean |title=Should A Former Man Be Able To Fight Women? |url=https://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/24/should-a-former-man-be-able-to-fight-women/ |magazine=Keeping Score |date=May 24, 2013 |access-date=May 25, 2013 |archive-date=September 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924044223/http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/24/should-a-former-man-be-able-to-fight-women/ |url-status=live}} and said that, to be licensed, transgender female fighters must undergo complete "surgical anatomical changes ..., including external genitalia and gonadectomy" and subsequently a minimum of two years of hormone replacement therapy, administered by a board certified specialist. In general concurrence with peer-reviewed scientific literature,Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons; Hembree, Cohen-Kettenis, Delemarre-van de Waal, Gooren, Meyer, Spack, Tangpricha, Montori; The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2009 94:9, pages 3132-3154 he states this to be "the current understanding of the minimum amount of time necessary to obviate male hormone gender related advantages in sports competition". Vilain reviewed Fox's medical records and said she has "clearly fulfilled all conditions". 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". Fox herself responded to the controversy with an analogy comparing herself to Jackie Robinson in a guest editorial for a UFC and MMA news website:{{cite web |url=http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/11/11/7192703/fallon-fox-responds-to-joe-rogan-and-ronda-rouseys-claims-of-unfair |title=Fox breaks down anti-transgender arguments |first=Fallon |last=Fox |date=11 November 2014 |website=Bloody Elbow |access-date=1 June 2017 |archive-date=2 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602235512/http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/11/11/7192703/fallon-fox-responds-to-joe-rogan-and-ronda-rouseys-claims-of-unfair |url-status=live}}

{{Blockquote| Has anybody ever watched the movie 42? Remember when commentators said Jackie Robinson had an unfair advantage because black people had "larger heel bones" than the white men he was competing with? Are we repeating history yet again with bogus bone claims? Can we couple these bogus claims with Rogan's horrible language that was aimed at me from the video I put out last week? I'm a transgender woman. I deserve equal treatment and respect to other types of women. I feel that all of this is so ridiculously unnecessary and horribly mean spirited.|title=|source=}}

The documentary Game Face provides an inside look into Fox's life during the beginning of her MMA controversy.{{cite web |title=New Documentary Explores Challenges of LGBTQ Athletes |url=https://www.espn.com/espnw/news-commentary/story/_/id/14698681/new-documentary-explores-challenges-lgbtq-athletes |publisher=ESPN |date=2016-02-02 |access-date=6 May 2016 |archive-date=2016-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505213303/http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/14698681/new-documentary-explores-challenges-lgbtq-athletes |url-status=live}}

In July 2022, the BBC interviewed Fox on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, but later apologized for the interview, which had been criticised for not informing listeners that Fox had taken pride in violence against supposedly transphobic competitors. A tweet from Fox in 2020 said: "For the record, I knocked two out. One woman’s skull was fractured, the other not. And just so you know, I enjoyed it. See, I love smacking up TEFS (sic) in the cage who talk transphobic nonsense. It’s bliss!".{{Cite news |last=Somerville |first=Ewan |date=16 July 2022 |title=BBC apologises after interviewing transgender athlete who boasted of violence against women |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/16/bbc-apologises-interviewing-transgender-athlete-who-boasted/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey |access-date=17 July 2022 |archive-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717162053/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/16/bbc-apologises-interviewing-transgender-athlete-who-boasted/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey |url-status=live }} In response to the BBC, Fox said: "It’s part of MMA culture to talk smack about opponents. You see it all the time. Only when I do it people take issue with it."{{Cite news |last=Ennis |first=Dawn |date=17 July 2022 |title=Exclusive: Fallon Fox responds to BBC apology over its attack on her |work=Los Angeles Blade |url=https://www.losangelesblade.com/2022/07/17/exclusive-fallon-fox-responds-to-bbc-apology-over-its-attack-on-her |access-date=18 July 2022}}

Personal life

Fox was raised Christian, but has since become an atheist.{{cite web |url=https://www.gq.com/story/fallon-fox-transgender-mma-fighter |title=Fallon Fox, MMA's First Transgender Fighter |first=Nancy Hass, Robert |last=Maxwell |date=23 December 2013 |access-date=5 September 2017 |archive-date=6 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906034954/https://www.gq.com/story/fallon-fox-transgender-mma-fighter |url-status=live}}

Mixed martial arts record

{{MMArecordbox

|draws=

|nc=

|ko-wins=3

|ko-losses=1

|sub-wins=2

|sub-losses=

|dec-wins=

|dec-losses=

|dq-wins=

|dq-losses=

|other-wins=

|other-losses=

}}

|{{yes2}}Win

|align=center|5–1

| Tamikka Brents

| TKO (punches)

| CCCW: The Undertaking

| {{dts|2014|September|13}}

|align=center| 1

|align=center| 2:17

| Springfield, Illinois, United States

|{{yes2}}Win

|align=center|4–1

| Heather Bassett

| Submission (armbar)

| Xtreme Fighting Organization 50

| {{dts|2014|March|21}}

|align=center| 2

|align=center| 0:44

| Chicago, Illinois, United States

|{{no2}}Loss

|align=center|3–1

| Ashlee Evans-Smith

| TKO (punches)

| CFA 12

| {{dts|2013|October|12}}

|align=center| 3

|align=center| 4:15

| Coral Gables, Florida, United States

| {{small|Women's Featherweight Tournament Final.}}

| {{yes2}}Win

|align=center| 3–0

| Allanna Jones

| Submission (shin choke)

| CFA 11: Kyle vs. Wiuff 2

| {{dts|2013|May|24}}

|align=center| 3

|align=center| 3:36

| Coral Gables, Florida, United States

| {{yes2}}Win

|align=center| 2–0

| Ericka Newsome

| KO (knee)

| CFA 10: McSweeney vs. Staring

| {{dts|2013|March|2}}

|align=center| 1

|align=center| 0:39

| Coral Gables, Florida, United States

| {{small|Women's Featherweight Tournament Semifinal.}}

| {{yes2}}Win

|align=center| 1–0

| Elisha Helsper

| TKO (injury)

| KOTC Wild Card

| {{dts|2012|May|17}}

|align=center| 1

|align=center| 2:00

| Worley, Idaho, United States

{{MMA amateur record box

|draws=

|nc=

|ko-wins=

|ko-losses=

|sub-wins=1

|sub-losses=

|dec-wins=

|dec-losses=

|dq-wins=

|dq-losses=

|other-wins=

|other-losses=

}}

|{{yes2}}Win

|align=center|1–0

|Rickie Gomes

|Submission (armbar)

| Rocktown Showdown 12

|{{dts|2011|June|10}}

|align=center|1

|align=center|2:27

|Rockford, Illinois, United States

Awards

In 2014, Fox was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=http://www.outsports.com/2014/7/9/5883239/gay-and-lesbian-sports-hall-of-fame-2014 |title=Gay sports hall of fame inducts 15 new members |first=Cyd |last=Zeigler |date=9 July 2014 |website=Outsports |access-date=1 June 2017 |archive-date=22 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322074620/http://www.outsports.com/2014/7/9/5883239/gay-and-lesbian-sports-hall-of-fame-2014 |url-status=live}}