North Texas Daily

A lot of current mediocre rappers enjoy shouting “YOLO” or “you only live once.” While the phrase may be a bit overplayed, it actually does deliver a powerful sentiment: Go out and do whatever you want to do, because it’s not like you have a lot of time.

37-year-old Mixed Martial Arts fighter Fallon Fox must have taken these words to heart, because not only did she choose an unusual career occupation, she is a male-to-female transgendered woman. Kind of a left turn, right?

Currently Fox stands 2-0 with a pair of knockouts in her career, but after her most recent win in Florida her athletic license is under review. Apparently Fox neglected to mention her gender reassignment surgery to the Florida State Boxing Commission before her fights.

According to mmajunkie.com, the Florida commission only granted Fox a license because she claimed to be licensed in California, which was not entirely true, since her license in that state was also under review.

Fox claims she unknowingly misled the commission, but one has to wonder if that’s an honest response. It’s not like she was upfront about her former gender at any point of her career. In fact, she’s stated before that she thinks her gender shouldn’t matter, claiming it to be her own business.

To be fair, she has gone through the proper channels when it comes to gender reassignment, undergoing testosterone-blocking hormones and other medical precautions to pave the way for her life change.

According to her reported hormone levels, she meets the requirements of an Olympic woman, meaning if she wanted to compete for the U.S. in an event she could.

The difference is that MMA is a combat sport, with fights often ending in knockout or submission. So shouldn’t her competitors know Fox’s history?

The obvious answer is yes, because most women competing in any sport were always women. If a female is willing to throw down with another female in a sanctioned arena, she kind of deserves the right to know if her opponent used to be described as a “he.”

While I disagree with the opinion of comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who claimed “You need to fight men, you know? Period. You need to fight men your size because you’re a man,” I do think her opponents should have full disclosure of what they’re getting into.

Some fighters have also rallied against Fox, with notable MMA competitors such as former Strikeforce bantamweight champion Meisha Tate announcing that she wouldn’t scrap with Fox.

Who could blame her? It’s a risk taking a fight with anyone, so if doubt creeps up then maybe partaking in physical combat is not a great idea.

The bottom line? Fox absolutely has the right to fight if licensed, and the other fighters have a right to freeze her out—even if she disagrees.

T. S. Johnson is a journalism sophomore. He can be reached at tj_2159@yahoo.com.