Fallon Fox

By Joshua Molina

There are two ways to look at MMA fighter Fallon Fox.

There’s her personal journey from man to woman. Surely she has shown courage and strength to travel that difficult road and has no doubt encountered discrimination and ignorance along the way.

In that sense, she’s a hero to many who identify and admire her for her personal triumph and perseverance.

As an MMA fighter, fighting women, however, it’s a bit more complicated, as evidenced by her fight Friday night for Championship Fight Alliance against Allana Jones.

Fox has very broad, muscular shoulders, big thighs and a thick frame. That’s not to say that female-born athletes don’t have those traits, but with Fox it was obvious that she had very broad, muscular shoulders, big thighs and a thick frame.

Even if you take a fighter like Cris “Cyborg” Santos, who is ripped to the shreds, and put them next to each other, their bodies look different. It’s just a different distribution of the mass.

As for Fox’s fighting style, it wasn’t really impressive. She kind of stalked the game Jones. Fox was the aggressor and Jones played defense and tried to counter punch and kick. When the fight went to the ground, Fox had a strength and mobility advantage.

Fox finally put Jones away in the third round with a knee to the twisted throat and twisted neck, choking Jones out in a move that vaguely resembled a north-south choke. It just didn’t feel right to see the fight end that way.

The other problem was the crowd at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla. A loud vocal group of them clearly didn’t want Fox to win. They booed her during the fight and after she won by choke, the crowd was not in to it, greeting her with a smattering of boos.

It’s going to be very difficult for Fallon Fox to get the respect she might deserve inside the cage. Will some fans always see her as a guy who beats up women, no matter the science behinder her gender transition or the caliber of the opponent she beats?

Or worse, will some fans always be rooting for her opponent because they want to see the girl beat the guy who wants to fight girls?

Clearly, there were many who wanted to see Fox lose last night, and for no good reason other than they don’t like the fact that she was born a man and is now a woman. That’s not really fair to her.

Purely as a fighter Fox was not impressive last night. She’s walking in to a tough situation. When someone beats her, the crowd will go nuts with joy and excitement because the girl beat the guy. If she keeps winning, well, many people will say it is unfair.

Perhaps Invicta FC would make a play to sign her to fight Cris “Cyborg” Santos in a match that would be one of the biggest non-UFC fights in recent history. But do we really want to see that? Worse, could Fox cut weight and find a home in the UFC and fight the 135-pound Ronda Rousey? Talk about heroes and villians, Rousey would be bigger than Hulk Hogan in 1985 going against Fox, playing the role of a more hated Iron Sheik.

Fox deserves respect for her personal journey. She’s brave and courageous to take the steps she has taken to be happy and at peace with who she is.

As a fighter, her future looks really messy and complicated if she goes forward. It’s a tough spot to be in when fans aren’t excited if you win, and only want to see you lose.