Biological Males in Female Divisions! 34-Year-Old UFC Women’s Champion Speaks With Tulsi Gabbard About How It Affects Females in MMA

Reigning UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza has been around the MMA space for a long time and was the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion in 2014. Her longevity is proven as she recaptured her belt nearly seven years after losing it. Given her time in the sport, the champion is a respected figure in the community. This women’s MMA pioneer provided her views about biological males competing in the female division.

Carla ‘The Cookie Monster’ Esparza, who reclaimed her title at UFC 274, sat down with former US representative Tulsi Gabbard on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’, and said, “Well this is a very important issue for me and it’s one that’s been really popular in the media lately.”

The champion stated she believes in ‘inclusion’ but added, “I feel fairness and safety is more important and… combat sport in general, there’s an inherent risk. Just as we don’t allow performance-enhancing drugs because it gives people an unfair advantage to inflict the damage on their opponent, I believe that coming into our sport with a physiological advantage does the same.”

Gabbard earlier gave a couple of examples of trans-athletes who found tremendous success in female divisions. It included an MMA athlete, Fallon Fox, the first open transgender fighter.

UFC champion Carla Esparza stressed the safety of fighters

Carla Esparza competes in the UFC women’s strawweight division. The two-time 115 lbs champion has been on the wrong side of the results, where she suffered damage as well. Thus, ‘Cookie Monster’ understands the consequences the fight game brings to the table.

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Considering the dire brutality of the sport, the California-based fighter said, “I believe when it comes to safety we need to have science prove beyond the reasonable doubt that there is no advantage. Because we’re in the danger business; we are in the fight business. We can get hurt out there.”

The champion submitted that if there’s any shadow of a doubt, then other female athletes are paying the price. Carla Esparza said, “So, taking away opportunities from girls such as scholarships, paydays; And you know just positions and victories. It’s just unfair. And like I said until the science can prove that it is fair, I don’t think they should have trans-athletes in female sport.”

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What do you make of Carla Esparza‘s words? Share your views about the topic in the comments below.