The sport of MMA was abuzz last week, when transgender fighter Alana McLaughlin made her pro debut, winning in the second round of her Combats Global bout. Someone who has a strong opinion of this is Michael Bisping, who does not feel like she should have fought.
The discussion of trans athletes in sports is a complicated one, but perhaps no more controversial than when it comes to MMA. So when McLaughlin made her debut, it came as little surprise to hear that there were some people who supported her, while others looked at this situation as being something that should not have happened.
It seems that Michael Bisping fell into the latter category, as he explained in a recent episode of his podcast. He said that while he did not watch the fight, he was quite aware of Alana’s situation, and as much as he has no problem with people being transgender, he does not feel like that has a place in a sport predicated on punching people in the face.
“I’m not here to talk about trans, men becoming women, or anything like that. You identify as whatever you want, I couldn’t care less. You want to be a man, you want to be a woman, great, good. God bless you, hope you’re happy, more power to you,” Bisping said.
“I do believe that if you are a woman that is trapped in a man’s body, and then you make the transition and you become a woman, you have been subjected to all that testosterone throughout your entire life, and you have a man’s body.”
Michael Bisping Thinks Trans MMA Fighters Are Dangerous
Michael Bisping went on to explain that he feels it a shame for someone to believe that they were born in the wrong body, and when it comes to Alana’s specific story of abuse and struggles in her home life, he is very sympathetic. He admits that growing up like that must have been unbearably difficult.
That being said, he says that when you are put in that situation, and you transition to being a woman, you have to concede certain luxuries in life. One of those luxuries would be the ability to fight other women, after growing up in the body of a man.
“I think if you have the body of a man, then unfortunately competing against other girls or women, in a sport where you are literally using your body to beat the other person unconscious, has to be one of those things that you have to sacrifice,” Bisping said.
“If you want to go play volleyball, beach ball, rounders, soccer, whatever it may be, great, be my guest. But a sport where you beat someone into unconsciousness or submission, that shouldn’t be allowed.”
Bisping and his co-host both make it very clear that they are supportive of trans rights, and people getting to choose who they want to be. However they feel like it is disrespectful to women fighters to allow this to happen.
Moreover, Mike took it a step further by saying that this is a potentially dangerous situation for the sport. If the worst case scenario does end up happening while a trans fighter is competing, he thinks that could be bad for women’s MMA, equating it to someone using steroids.
“It’s not disrespectful to women, it’s dangerous to women. It’s dangerous because it’s unfair,” Bisping said.
https://youtu.be/5sAPAu_pAN4
What do you make of these comments from Michael Bisping? Should Alana McLaughlin be allowed to compete as a transgender athlete?