The first openly transgender MMA fighter to compete in seven years is getting treated horribly on social media as people call her a cheater after her debut victory on Friday.
Alana McLaughlin went to battle with Celine Provost in a featherweight match at the Combate Global event at Univision Studios in Miami, Florida. The match finished in the second round when McLaughlin tapped Provost with a rear-naked choke.
“It was a nightmare trying to find an opponent,” McLaughlin said before the bout, according to ESPN. She added that she had “nothing but respect” for Provost.
McLaughlin had passed all the medicals, including a hormone panel, required to compete.
However, she has faced major backlash since her debut win.
“I’m getting a lot of variations of the same nasty messages calling me a cheater,” McLaughlin said in an Instagram post.
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“She almost finished me more than once, and on scorecards she definitely won that first round,” she said.
“This is the only post I’ll make about this,” McLaughlin said. “Transphobes are just making my block hand stronger.”
