Fallon Fox has generated a huge amount of attention since it was revealed that she'd been competing in WMMA without letting anyone know that she was a male-to-female transexual.
The controversy has ultimately been nothing but a positive for Fox and her promoters, Championship Fighting Alliance which got picked up by AXS-TV as an immediate result of the bouhaha.
Fox spoke to USA Today about the reaction from the MMA world:"It's about what I thought it would be," Fox said. "I've always known, ever since I was competing in jiu-jitsu and grappling tournaments, this was a possibility," Fox said. "I guess I was mentally preparing myself for it. I wasn't sure how I'd deal with it, other than to tell myself that on a long enough timeline this would happen. I don't know if you can ever really be prepared for a situation like this."
CFA founder Jorge de la Noval chimed in as well:
"I was in shock, to be honest with you," de la Noval said. "I didn't even know what a transgender was. But my reaction was, we'll support her. I called her right away and told her, 'Don't be afraid. We'll stand behind you.'"
When the news broke, de la Noval said, some women in the tournament wanted to withdraw rather than face an opponent who had lived most of her life as a man.
"But fast-forward three months, and now every girl out there wants to fight Fallon Fox," de la Noval said. "Now they'll not only be fighting a female with skills, they'll be fighting a celebrity."
Fox faces Allanna Jones at CFA 11 this Friday, May 24. It will air on AXS-TV and we'll have the live results right here at Bloody Elbow.
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