An MMA fighter called out former college swimmer Lia Thomas during his press conference on Saturday night.
Julian Erosa, who defeated Ricardo Ramos by submission at UFC Vegas 89 on Saturday evening, had a post-fight message for Thomas. Thomas, a transgender swimmer, previously competed for the Penn men’s team. However, she transitioned and began competing for the women’s squad.
Erosa accused Thomas of being a “cheater.”
“I don’t like cheaters,” Erosa said. “I wanted to encourage him to transition from women’s swimming into women’s MMA, and then I’ll transition into a woman and beat that dude’s (butt).”
He added: “The world that we’re living in, there’s no common sense anymore.”
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Thomas has been at the center of the debate surrounding transgender athletes.
Legendary sports announcer Bob Costas thinks everyone just needs to use some common sense.
“It’s not transphobic to say ‘Let’s inject some common sense here,’” Costas said. “A lot of this is murky. We know that some people who use this as an issue actually are hostile towards trans people, or people who after carefully considered decisions at a certain point in life, decide that they’ll be happier and closer to their true selves- I think any sensitive person is aligned with that.”
This is undoubtedly an ongoing issue that will continue to generate debate and discussion for the foreseeable future.
