It has been 14 months since Alana McLaughlin made her MMA debut and became the second transgender woman to compete in the sport. Since then, McLaughlin has been training and patiently waiting for another chance to compete.
After defeating Celine Provost in the second round in September 2021, McLaughlin said, “To be honest I’m pretty salty. If I were a cis woman, that fight would have been a contender for fight of the night.”
McLaughlin was interviewed for this week’s Trans Sporter Room episode while she was being recorded in New York City for a documentary about her debut and how it relates to the ongoing debate around trans inclusion in sports.
Combate Global Productions will produce the documentary. Emmy-winning filmmaker Marc Perez has been enlisted to help craft the narrative. The movie will be released in early 2023, according to Perez.
It’s no surprise Combate Global is high on the idea of McLaughlin. They pulled a highly unorthodox stunt and financed her camp in preparation for her debut. They also filed a number of copyright notices on youtube against channels that were portraying McLaughlin’s debut in an unfavorable way including More Plates More Dates which had a fair use analysis of McLaughlin’s physical advantages.
McLaughlin has mostly focused on training and is preparing for the next bout. According to her, her next opponent snuck into her DMs and offered to face her. But the deal still hasn’t been signed so she’s unwilling to share a name or a date.
McLaughlin was universally slammed for the choice to compete against biological women with many prominent figures weighing in.
Demian Maia:
“It is very clear that you cannot let this happen. It’s one thing for a man to want to fight a woman and for a woman to say: ‘Okay, I’m going to fight. The choice is mine’. Now, for you to force a woman to fight a transgender person who was born a man is absurd. I think that only those who are not in the sport accept this, because they have no idea what it is.”
Sean O’Malley:
“I don’t think that’s okay. I just don’t think that’s okay… in just competing in sports, I mean, especially mixed,” O’Malley began on his YouTube channel.
“it’s like she had testosterone for, who knows, 20, 30 years of her life and now I’m a girl. And look at that, you could tell that’s a dude. A jacked girl. I mean, look at those arms.”
Michael Bisping:
“I’m not here to talk about transgender rights, you can identify as whatever you want,” Bisping said. “But I do believe that if you’re a woman that feels trapped in a man’s body, there are certain advantages that you should have to give up. If you have the body of a man, competing against girls or women, when you’re using your body to beat someone unconscious, has to be one of those things you sacrifice.”