In 2014, MMA fighter Fallon Fox cracked Tamikka Brents’ skull in a cage fight that lasted just over two minutes before the referee stepped in to stop the mauling. Fox was a 45-year-old man identifying as a woman, and his obvious physical advantages ensured that the woman he was fighting was brutalized in short order.
Something similar happened in Poland over the weekend when a fight between male fighter Piotr “Mua Boy” Lisowski and female opponent and arm wrestler Ula Siekacz was also halted in the second round by a referee. The fight, which was condemned by the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), was described by some as “horrific” due to the way Siekacz was battered by her male opponent.
“IMMAF categorically disagrees with this intentionally scandalous form of entertainment which does not represent the sport of MMA or its values and put women at risk,” a spokesperson stated. “It is unacceptable that women and women should complete against each other in combat sports, essentially for reasons of safety but also fair play, and we in no way endorse this.”
Siekacz ended up on her back being relentlessly punched by Lisowski but disagreed with the referee’s decision to stop the fight, stating that she’d taken more punishment in the past and survived.
Inevitably, condemnation of the fight is being associated with the debate over transgender athletes, especially since a former U.S. Army Special Forces member calling himself Alana McLaughlin finished female fighter Celine Provost with a rear-naked choke hold in just over three minutes in a bout in Miami, Florida, in September. McLaughlin had lived as a man for the first 33 years of his life, and had only identified as transgender for five years.
