Mixed martial arts fighter Colby Covington has warned of potentially fatal consequences after USA Boxing allowed some males to fight female boxers.
Speaking on Fox News on Wednesday the UFC star called the new transgender policy “despicable”, joining tennis great Martina Navratilova and top college swimmer Riley Gaines in opposing the change.
The new rules, in effect from January 1, allow male athletes to compete against women if they claim to be female, have “genital reassignment surgery” and pass quarterly hormone tests for four years after the surgery.
Covington said: “Biological men shouldn’t be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Doesn’t matter what their hormone levels or pronouns are, they’re still biological men.
“When they dig up their bones in 200 years, their bones won’t leave pronouns. They’re just gonna leave XX and XY chromosomes, and, unfortunately, boxing is a sport that could potentially have fatal consequences. So, to let women go against men is completely irresponsible, unethical, and dangerous.
“To put a man in there against a woman – this is endangering someone’s life.”
Navratilova called the change “beyond irresponsible” on X, while Gaines also told Fox News: “In regard to this topic, we know about the unfair competition aspect, but the safety of women has been compromised by USA Boxing’s new policies and guidelines.
“And I think my biggest problem with this new implementation is that we are now glorifying men – we’re calling them champions, we’re giving them titles, they’re winning prize money — for punching women in the face.”
Fallon Fox, the first male to fight as a woman in professional MMA, famously fractured an opponent’s skull in 2014, eight years after undergoing gender reassignment surgery in Thailand.
She later tweeted: “For the record, I knocked two out. One woman’s skull was fractured, the other not. And just so you know, I enjoyed it. See, I love smacking up TERFS in the cage who talk transphobic nonsense. It’s bliss! Don’t be mad.”
