Transgendered woman beats man in a controversial MMA match.
The first ever Mixed Martial Arts fight between a transgender woman and a man took place Saturday night at Mr. Cage 34 in Manaus.
Anne Veriato, is a transgender woman who had competed avidly in men’s jiu-jitsu tournaments throughout Brazil. Last week she made her official transition into MMA, winning a decision victory over Railson Paixao in a strawweight fight.
The majority of the fight took place on the ground, with Veriato attempting to enforce her grappling skills through various submissions. However, Paixao was wise to many of her attempts and repeatedly avoided getting submitted. On the feet, he did the better work, connecting with some solid strikes. But even when Paixao wasn’t defending takedowns he always seemed threatened by the potential, and so was never able to open up. Although Veriato had a point deducted in the first round for what appeared to be an illegal knee, she won the fight via a lopsided unanimous decision.
Before the contest, Veriato told MMA Fighting why she wanted to compete against men instead of women.
”It’s only fair to fight men. It never crossed my mind to fight a woman because I think I’m too good. If I beat men my entire career, I can still beat them despite the hormone process. I only know that I’m good after I beat men. That’s what makes me happy and hungrier to train. I don’t think it’s fair to fight women.”
With few regulations and low skill levels in many shows, MMA has surprisingly found itself on the forefront of transgender athletics in the past few years. For example, transgender woman Fallon Fox made headlines after UFC commentator Joe Rogan raved about the unfairness of her competing in women’s MMA, even though she was receiving hormone therapy. Likely, there will be little controversy over Veriato competing against men, but still, this event further marked MMA’s journey into the progressive social dynamics of 2018.
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