Transgender fighter Alana McLaughlin emerged victorious in her mixed martial arts debut on Friday night.
McLaughlin — the first openly transgender athlete to compete in MMA in the United States since 2014 — faced adversity as she took some big shots from Celine Provost in their Combate Global fight in Miami.
However, McLaughlin, 38, bounced back as she landed her own big shots before taking Provost down in the second round to sink in the rear naked choke submission for the victory.
McLaughlin Responds To ‘Transphobes’
Naturally, McLaughlin received plenty of criticism and hate online for competing against a woman.
McLaughlin was a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces and only transitioned at the age of 33. Many online have argued that transgender fighters, and athletes as a whole to some degree, should only compete against other transgender athletes.
To all that, McLaughlin responded on social media on Saturday morning:
“Good morning, friends, supporters and others! I’m getting a lot of variations of the same nasty messages calling me a cheater like I didn’t just get beat on for a round and a half. Y’all need to show Céline Provost some respect and take your concern trolling elsewhere.
“She almost finished me more than once, and on scorecards she definitely won that first round. This is the only post I’ll make about this. Transphobes are just making my block hand stronger.🤷♀️”
McLaughlin was the first transgender fighter to compete in the United States since Fallon Fox — the latter of whom was in attendance watching.
