UFC fighter Mike Mitrione suspended for transphobic rant

Suspended UFC fighter Mike Mitrione

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has suspended one of its fighters after he went on a transphobic rant against transgender fighter, Fallon Fox.

In an interview with The MMA Hour on Monday, mixed martial artist Matt Mitrione went on a tirade against Fox, whom he repeatedly referred to as a man. Fox transitioned ten years ago but came out as a transgender woman earlier last month after facing pressure from a reporter.

When host Ariel Helwani asked Mitrione, “Why do you hate Fallon Fox so much, and why do you keep calling she a ‘he’?”, he responded:

“Because she’s not a he. He’s a he,” he said. “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,” he continued. “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.”

The UFC acted swiftly and decidedly, issuing the following statement later that day:

The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione today in an interview 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.

(via Pink News)