UFC Fighter Julian Erosa Wants NCAA Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas to Become Fighter

UFC Fighter Julian Erosa

UFC Fighter Julian Erosa expressed his desire to confront former NCAA transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the octagon, suggesting he would like to challenge them to a fight following his recent win at UFC Vegas 89.

Call-out

Erosa later referred to his call-out as a joke, but he did emphasize a specific reason behind it.

Cheaters

“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,” he said.

Women’s MMA

“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 [expletive],” Erosa added.

Common sense

“The world that we’re living in is just,” he continued, “you know, there’s no common sense anymore. … 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.”

Male-born athletes

Erosa argued that male-born athletes should never compete against women.

Nothing you can do

“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,” he said of trans athletes.

Transgender athletes

Erosa said that he can’t understand why some women defend transgender athletes.

Transwomen

“It’s so funny to me 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.”

Transgender athlete ban

Recently, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) implemented a policy to prevent transgender females from participating in women’s sports. The NAIA Council of Presidents unanimously approved this significant measure with a 20-0 vote.

Updated

This updated regulation now applies to all competitions, replacing the previous rule that solely pertained to postseason events, as reported by CBS Sports.

Opinions

“We know there are a lot of different opinions out there,” NAIA President Jim Carr told CBS Sports. “For us, we believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA.”

Title IX

“We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created. You’re allowed to have separate but equal opportunities for women to compete.”

Gender category

All athletes under the jurisdiction of the NAIA are required to compete in the gender category corresponding to their birth assignment.

Transgender athletes

Carr emphasized that transgender athletes are still permitted to engage in sports activities.

Male sports

“It’s important to know that the male sports are open to anyone,” Carr explained.

Exhibition matches

Furthermore, the regulation allows for transgender athletes to take part in exhibition matches and non-NAIA sanctioned events.

NCAA’s approach

This policy stands in sharp contrast to the NCAA’s approach, where the eligibility criteria for transgender athletes are determined by the governing bodies of each sport.

College sports

“College sports are the premier stage for women’s sports in America, and the NCAA will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports, and ensure fair competition for all student-athletes in all NCAA championships,” the NCAA said in a statement.

Riley Gaines

Riley Gaines and a coalition of former female athletes have filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, alleging a violation of their Title IX rights.

Changing facilities

They claim that the organization compelled them to compete against and share changing facilities with a transgender athlete.

Two years

“The task force spent nearly two years reviewing research, meeting with experts to better understand potential policy challenges, and obtaining feedback from multiple membership groups,” said Amy Novak, the chair of the Council of Presidents and President of St. Ambrose University.

NAIA

“With this policy, the NAIA has made its best effort to allow for the inclusion of transgender athletes in any way that does not impact the competitive fairness of women’s sports.”

Protect

“Our priority is to protect the integrity of women’s athletics and allow them equal opportunity to succeed.”

Survey

Before the vote, a survey was conducted where 58 out of the 67 university presidents and chancellors who participated indicated their backing for the proposed rule modification.