Sean O’Malley isn’t on board with Alana McLaughlin’s women’s MMA career.
Transgender fighter Alana McLaughlin has been attracting more attention by the day since her MMA debut last Friday at Combate Global: Perez vs. Roa. Today, that attention will get amplified multifold with one of the sport’s rising stars weighing in on the subject in “Sugar” Sean O’Malley.
UFC middleweight Sean Strickland was the first UFC fighter to publicly speak out against McLaughlin’s career. In an Instagram Story from earlier this week, Strickland branded McLaughlin as a coward who should “get out of women’s MMA.”
O’Malley also didn’t take the diplomatic route in sharing his thoughts on this sensitive issue. Like Strickland, O’Malley had some unflattering descriptors for the MMA newcomer.
“I don’t think that’s okay. I just don’t think that’s okay… in just competing in sports, I mean, especially mixed,” O’Malley began on his YouTube channel.
“It’s like she had testosterone for, who knows, 20, 30 years of her life and now I’m a girl. And look at that, you could tell that’s a dude. A jacked girl. I mean, look at those arms.”
For her part, Alana McLaughlin has already put out a message via Instagram to her critics soon after her successful debut. Before expressing her pleasure in blocking “transphobes,” McLaughlin stated that the post would be the only time she addresses this subject. As more prominent figures begin to weigh in on her career, it will grow increasingly difficult for her to stick to that vow.
What’s your take on Sean O’Malley’s thoughts on Alana McLaughlin?
