Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I train almost every day. It's like work.
I like playing video games in my spare time.
But I got into MMA for the sport. I love fighting.
I see similarities between Jackie Robinson and myself.
Getting choked out feels a lot better than getting knocked out.
I was brought up with the idea that God is watching at all times.
I do not have a competitive advantage when fighting another woman.
I felt like I was going to hell just for putting on women's clothes.
I did wrestling in high school; that helped, as far as technique goes.
I wanted my private life to be private. I just wanted to be a fighter.
I'm female. I'm human. Sometimes I dominate and sometimes I'm dominated.
If I don't take estrogen hormone replacement therapy, I can get osteoporosis.
Where I came from, it was more shocking to be an atheist than to be transgender.
I want to compete against some of the best female fighters in MMA. That's my goal.
I'd rather be known for my talent, for what I can do in the cage. I'm sure that will come.
It took me about a year to understand and to feel the support from the transgender community.
Winning a pro tournament is another step toward getting fights against higher-ranked opponents.
MMA is the most dangerous sport there is for a transgender, with all the body contact, I know that.
The techniques that you learn as a male fighter are the same techniques you learn as a female fighter.
I think when kids are younger, they don't have these preconceived notions of what a transsexual person is.
If the UFC would listen to reason on transgendered athletes, it could help change the sport for the better.
I'm very good at submissions from the ground. I have good takedowns and good striking, so I'm pretty well-rounded.
I was looking for a way to lose a little weight and discovered MMA and its disciplines, and I fell in love with it.
Transgender women especially feel like we have to fit the binary system to a T in order to not be recognized as trans.
I consider myself a woman. I happen to fall into the transgender category, but I rather describe myself as a woman first.
The danger is you never know if people are actually saying what they mean. I've learned you never know how someone will react.
I remembered watching the first UFC. You couldn't get it on TV. They were doing it bare knuckles. No gloves. I wanted to do that.
The testosterone levels of a normal male can be anywhere from 300-1,000 nanograms. For the average female, it's 10-70. Mine is around 7.
I don't believe that a transgender fighter should have to disclose her personal medical history to other female fighters before they fight.
Around 19, I got a girl pregnant. I really didn't want to get married, but I was raised with the belief to marry that person and take care of our child.
I expected that someone was going to out me; you just can't go through life with a microscope on your career without someone delving into your past a little bit.
It's hard because the phrase 'woman trapped in a man's body' is thrown around a lot, but that's like shorthand. It's deeper than that. There's so much more to it.
I'm a legitimate fighter who trained for years for this and I'm good, but suddenly, just because I'm a transgender woman, I fall into the category of 'freak show.'
I'm the first transsexual fighter in MMA. Like, ever. It's always going to be part of the narrative, but I'll deal with it. I'll try my best to use it to my advantage.
For years I've known at some point it's very likely the shoe would drop. Maybe someone would guess that I'm trans. Maybe they would know me from my life before I transitioned.
I was pretty sure, going along the timeline, I was going to have to embrace being a role model for transsexuals in mixed martial arts, and I'm willing to embrace it - of course.
I break people's faces. I break their arms. I break their legs. That's a part of the sport. That's my job. That's the job of the opponent who's trying to do the same thing to me.
I was built to be a fighter, to be a warrior just like Ronda Rousey was built to be a warrior and Bruce Jenner is getting back to being the hardcore person, the warrior that he is.
Matt Mitrione went well beyond disagreeing with the medical experts who say I should be able to compete as a woman, and personally attacked me as a fighter, as a woman, and as a human being.
Do you ever wonder what the Amazons would have looked like in real life? I think in MMA, like, you see it - that warrior spirit. You see that determination. You see that heart. You see that bravery.
I want the public to know how it feels, the fear of being scrutinized, of being outed. The fear of what happens when you come out and the media puts you under a microscope. It's crippling. You get lost.
Playing devil's advocate with myself is very, very hard. It's a 24-hour thing. Because I know there's a possibility that people are going to come after me, they're not going to understand me, so I have to be ready.
You're brought up not to hit girls, that it's the worst sin, and that's what I do. But you know, gender is the last thing I think about when I'm fighting. It's the one situation where I don't think of gender at all.
If no one knew that I was trans - let's say that I made it very, very far. Let's say I went to the UFC and became a UFC champion, even, won the belt title, took it home and no one ever knew - that would be great for me.
Right after I got out of the military, I realized that I wasn't surrounded by men all of the time. I started behaving - and outwardly - how I truly felt inside. And I decided that it would be a good idea if I transitioned.
These past six years, people have seen me as a woman, not a transsexual. People in the gym, people I train with, it's been great, it's been awesome. I'm just a woman to them. I don't want that to go away. It's unfortunate that it has to.
I remember when I first came out, it was like half and half, half the female fighters were like, 'I understand why she did it, and I'll fight her,' and half said I shouldn't be in the cage and said horrible, horrific transphobic comments about me.
My role models are every single woman that steps inside of the cage - inside of an octagon, inside a ring, or on a mat - and proves to themselves and to others that they can do what they need to do. Those are my heroes. Those are my sheroes. Those are the people that I look up to.
I looked up the Queen of Swords and I read the meaning. It was a tarot card. The description of the tarot card sounded to me like the description of a certain type of woman: She's strong, she's proud, she's intelligent and all these different things. I was like, that's how I want to be.
For the rest of my life, my testosterone levels will remain underneath women who were born with female anatomy. There's no advantage I could ever get by not taking estrogen. Which I'm not doing, I'm just saying that's a fact, so people should realize that. Which, I don't think most people understand.