TRANSGENDER fighter Alana MacLaughlin won against Celine Provost her MMA debut on Friday night.
The 38-year old is the first openly transgender fighter to compete in MMA since Fallon Fox stepped into a cage in 2014.
Alana McLaughlin won Friday's MMA debut
McLaughlin won the second round by knocking out Provost. However, it was not an easy fight for Provost.
McLaughlin was beaten by her opponent in the first round, but she recovered to force a submission.
The fight was originally scheduled for August 6, but it was delayed after Provost was positive for coronavirus in July.
McLaughlin met all requirements for her MMA debut. This included hormone evaluations.
The debutant posted on Twitter, "It's probably the time to stop looking at Social Media and get focused."
"See you on another side, kittens!"
In 2003, she was 20 years old and came out as transgender. However, her mother refused to perform gender reassignment surgery on her. She joined the army.
McLaughlin was a soldier in Afghanistan. He was later diagnosed as having PTSD. McLaughlin underwent gender reassignment surgery on June 16, 2016.
She has recently started MMA training, and she looks up to Fox, who won five out of six professional MMA fights in 2012 and 2014.
According to the Mirror McLaughlin stated that he wanted to take over the mantle Fallon left behind.
"Right now I'm following Fallon's steps. It's my hope that I'm only one step in the right direction and there will be many more.
"If we want more trans athletes, and if we want more opportunities for trans children, we have to find a way to get into those spaces.
