UFC fighter Julian Erosa has challenged transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to become an MMA fighter so that he can “beat that dude’s ass.”
Erosa made the call out during a press conference after his first-round submission victory at UFC Vegas 89.
“I was going to say that I don’t like cheaters, and I don’t know how you guys feel about this whole situation, but I don’t like cheaters, and so I wanted to call out Lia Thomas,” Erosa said.
Erosa continued, “I wanted to encourage her to — or encourage him — to transition from women’s swimming into women’s MMA, and then I’ll transition to becoming a woman, and I’m going to beat that dude’s ass.”
Julian Erosa planned to call out Lia Thomas during his post-win octagon interview at #UFCVegas89.
“I don’t like cheaters. … I wanted to encourage him to transition from women’s swimming into women’s MMA, and then I’ll transition into become a woman and beat that dude’s ass.” pic.twitter.com/2dOVt4BlOO
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 24, 2024
Thomas was not the only transgender athlete to get called out. Erosa also targeted Fallon Fox, a fighter born a man but who now identifies as a woman.
“The world that we’re living in is just … you know there’s no common sense any more. … I just don’t agree with men in women’s sports, you know? Even the whole Fallon Fox thing … guys that are fighting in women’s MMA and knocking them out. It’s a bad look.”
The reporter asked Erosa if there are any cases where he thinks a male competing against a female athlete makes sense.
“Absolutely not,” Erosa fired back immediately. “There’s nothing you can do, there’s nothing you can give yourself to shrink your bones down. There’s nothing you can do in that kind of sense, I mean, and the proof’s in the pudding.”
“I’m not the smartest crayon in the box, but I could tell you — if I don’t know anything about anything — I could still tell you that’s unfair.”
Erosa said that he believes women’s sports will eventually cease to exist if biological men continue being allowed to compete.
“It’s so funny to me that that women will fight for their own spaces and then they also fight for transwomen to be in those spaces. Those are just men, there’s going to be hundreds of men in these sports, and then it just becomes another man sport.”
WATCH THE FULL PRESS CONFERENCE HERE:
