I do not have a competitive advantage when fighting another woman.
Fallon Fox
My role models are every single woman that steps inside of the cage - inside of an octagon, inside a ring, or on a mat - and proves to themselves and to others that they can do what they need to do. Those are my heroes. Those are my sheroes. Those are the people that I look up to.
Getting choked out feels a lot better than getting knocked out.
I was pretty sure, going along the timeline, I was going to have to embrace being a role model for transsexuals in mixed martial arts, and I'm willing to embrace it - of course.
I looked up the Queen of Swords and I read the meaning. It was a tarot card. The description of the tarot card sounded to me like the description of a certain type of woman: She's strong, she's proud, she's intelligent and all these different things. I was like, that's how I want to be.
I expected that someone was going to out me; you just can't go through life with a microscope on your career without someone delving into your past a little bit.
MMA is the most dangerous sport there is for a transgender, with all the body contact, I know that.
Do you ever wonder what the Amazons would have looked like in real life? I think in MMA, like, you see it - that warrior spirit. You see that determination. You see that heart. You see that bravery.
It's hard because the phrase 'woman trapped in a man's body' is thrown around a lot, but that's like shorthand. It's deeper than that. There's so much more to it.
Media is set up to give information to the people - at least that's what it says. But we all know in the U.S. that media is a capitalistic system, people are getting paid to write things, they have bosses and editors, and they have bosses, and they put pressure on people to write intriguing stories that catch the eye.
Winning a pro tournament is another step toward getting fights against higher-ranked opponents.
I'm very good at submissions from the ground. I have good takedowns and good striking, so I'm pretty well-rounded.
I don't believe that a transgender fighter should have to disclose her personal medical history to other female fighters before they fight.
I was looking for a way to lose a little weight and discovered MMA and its disciplines, and I fell in love with it.
I would say to those kids that were like me not to give up.
The testosterone levels of a normal male can be anywhere from 300-1,000 nanograms. For the average female, it's 10-70. Mine is around 7.
Matt Mitrione went well beyond disagreeing with the medical experts who say I should be able to compete as a woman, and personally attacked me as a fighter, as a woman, and as a human being.
I see similarities between Jackie Robinson and myself.
Transgender women especially feel like we have to fit the binary system to a T in order to not be recognized as trans.
Right after I got out of the military, I realized that I wasn't surrounded by men all of the time. I started behaving - and outwardly - how I truly felt inside. And I decided that it would be a good idea if I transitioned.
It took me about a year to understand and to feel the support from the transgender community.
I'm no chump.
But I got into MMA for the sport. I love fighting.
If the UFC would listen to reason on transgendered athletes, it could help change the sport for the better.
I was built to be a fighter, to be a warrior just like Ronda Rousey was built to be a warrior and Bruce Jenner is getting back to being the hardcore person, the warrior that he is.
Around 19, I got a girl pregnant. I really didn't want to get married, but I was raised with the belief to marry that person and take care of our child.
I think when kids are younger, they don't have these preconceived notions of what a transsexual person is.
You're brought up not to hit girls, that it's the worst sin, and that's what I do. But you know, gender is the last thing I think about when I'm fighting. It's the one situation where I don't think of gender at all.
Where I came from, it was more shocking to be an atheist than to be transgender.
I'm female. I'm human. Sometimes I dominate and sometimes I'm dominated.
I break people's faces. I break their arms. I break their legs. That's a part of the sport. That's my job. That's the job of the opponent who's trying to do the same thing to me.
If no one knew that I was trans - let's say that I made it very, very far. Let's say I went to the UFC and became a UFC champion, even, won the belt title, took it home and no one ever knew - that would be great for me.
Some people believe I have an automatic advantage over other female MMA fighters, so they think 'well she has to be stronger, because she used to be a male,' but if they look into the science of it and what the hormones do to the body, to the male body once taken over a period of time... it dissipates.
I was brought up with the idea that God is watching at all times.
I felt like I was going to hell just for putting on women's clothes.
The first time I got called 'Miss' that felt amazing.
I miss being able to throw down with other elite-level women, to be considered among the best.
I want the public to know how it feels, the fear of being scrutinized, of being outed. The fear of what happens when you come out and the media puts you under a microscope. It's crippling. You get lost.
I remembered watching the first UFC. You couldn't get it on TV. They were doing it bare knuckles. No gloves. I wanted to do that.
The danger is you never know if people are actually saying what they mean. I've learned you never know how someone will react.
Playing devil's advocate with myself is very, very hard. It's a 24-hour thing. Because I know there's a possibility that people are going to come after me, they're not going to understand me, so I have to be ready.
These past six years, people have seen me as a woman, not a transsexual. People in the gym, people I train with, it's been great, it's been awesome. I'm just a woman to them. I don't want that to go away. It's unfortunate that it has to.
I consider myself a woman. I happen to fall into the transgender category, but I rather describe myself as a woman first.
For years I've known at some point it's very likely the shoe would drop. Maybe someone would guess that I'm trans. Maybe they would know me from my life before I transitioned.
I did wrestling in high school; that helped, as far as technique goes.
The techniques that you learn as a male fighter are the same techniques you learn as a female fighter.
I remember when I first came out, it was like half and half, half the female fighters were like, 'I understand why she did it, and I'll fight her,' and half said I shouldn't be in the cage and said horrible, horrific transphobic comments about me.
I'm a legitimate fighter who trained for years for this and I'm good, but suddenly, just because I'm a transgender woman, I fall into the category of 'freak show.'
I like playing video games in my spare time.
I'm the first transsexual fighter in MMA. Like, ever. It's always going to be part of the narrative, but I'll deal with it. I'll try my best to use it to my advantage.
