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Transgender MMA fighter Alana McLaughlin had plenty of people applauding when she pulled off a stunning win—in just three and a half minutes—during her debut match in Miami this weekend.
Former MMA champion Jake Shields was not among them, who launched an all-out transphobic attack against McLaughlin, mocking and migendering her on Twitter.
But much like her championship fight a few days earlier, McLaughlin got the last laugh, with a perfect Twitter clapback that has left even more people cheering her on.
Lol Jake has a crush\n\nSorry sweetie, you started off on the wrong foot.https://twitter.com/notCursedE/status/1436989460286255104\u00a0\u2026— Alana McLaughlin\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f (@Alana McLaughlin\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f) 1631554737
Seemingly refusing to dignify Shields by taking his bait, McLaughlin simply turned the mockery back around on him with her response:
"Lol Jake has a crush"
"Sorry sweetie, you started off on the wrong foot."
Perfect.
McLaughlin's win at the Combate Global preliminaries in Miami was definitely a stunner: In just three and half minutes she vanquished her opponent, French fighter Celine Provost, with a move called a rear-naked choke.
As much of the coverage of her match specified, McLaughlin's participation came after she submitted to a battery of tests required under the state of Florida's new draconian law focused on excluding trans athletes from sports by invading their medical privacy. McLaughlin passed those tests, including the ones focused on her hormone levels.
But that clearly didn't satisfy Shields.
From practically the moment McLaughlin's win was announced, he began a sustained—and typo-ridden—mockery and misgendering campaign against her.
This is the \u201cwomen\u201d mma fighter that they just allowed to beat up a girl in Florida \n\nSo brave of \u201cher\u201d to transition then live \u201cher\u201d dream of beating up womenpic.twitter.com/3B7AbsbgWM— Jake Shields (@Jake Shields) 1631382141
Shields posted so many tweets about McLaughlin it began to seem like something of an obsession.
Especially after MMA's first trans fighter, Fallon Fox, tweeted her congratulations to McLaughlin.
Heres two trans \u201cwomen\u201d celebrating because they\u2019ve both beaten up real girls \n\nThis is sick and perverse and will only get worse if we sit back as a society and pretend it\u2019s okayhttps://twitter.com/FallonFox/status/1436541344713957377\u00a0\u2026— Jake Shields (@Jake Shields) 1631436033
But as much as he was dishing out the mockery, he didn't seem able to take it in return—the resulting tidal wave of criticism really seemed to get to him.
Waking up and seeing Dozens of messages of hate mail I can see I was wrong and apologize to the trans community \n\nAlana McLaughlin is clearly a real beautiful,brave and talented women and I wish her well beating up girls in Womens MMApic.twitter.com/yfQySsUzxJ— Jake Shields (@Jake Shields) 1631470836
Bigotry aside, it's hard not to criticize a point so poorly made as Shields'.
Aside from the fact McLaughling passed all of the medical tests mandated by transphobic legislation in order to appease transphobes like Shields—which Shields of course made no mention of—he didn't really do himself any favors in the way he laid out his attack.
As several pointed out, if he was trying to prove McLaughlin is still a man, well... the photo evidence he presented says otherwise.
before, and he's like "cAn YoU bElIeVe ThEy WoUlD lEt ThIs WoMaN fIgHt OtHeR wOmEn!!" when he put the picture there so we can all go "Yeah I can believe it, look at her. She should. Why are we talking about this"— Stardust (@Stardust) 1631442609
In any case, McLaughlin got the last word.
If a reply to her tweet dragging Shields is any indication, you might say she has him pegged.
"...I know the type. Talk sh*t about you in public, hide you from his friends, keep his hood up and shades on at the bar, then ask you to peg him when nobody is around"
On Twitter, many people took McLaughlin's side and put Shields firmly in place.
Just admit that the concept of a woman doing anything you don\u2019t have control over is something you can\u2019t mentally handle.\n\nAnd if you think she\u2019s so \u201cmanly\u201d then fight her in the ring.— Tony B (@Tony B) 1631515695
They didn't fight girls, they fought other women\n\nI think you describing it as "sick and perverse" says all we need to know. You don't care about it being fair or the science or anything, you're just irrationally disgusted by trans women— Katy Montgomerie \ud83e\udd97 (@Katy Montgomerie \ud83e\udd97) 1631455935
Who exactly are you again?\n\nI know you were an MMA fighter.\n\nI didn't know you were an authority on women, though.\n\nStrange.— Alexandra (@Alexandra) 1631453792
Seeing how his fighting "career" is going, my guess is that he's angling for some of that sweet, sweet wingnut welfare. Regular Fox News contributor, or at least a lucrative yt channel.— Sebastian Gawker (@Sebastian Gawker) 1631452045
Please stop calling women \u201cgirls\u201d, it\u2019s genuinely weird. They\u2019re adults who agreed to fight other women who passed their physical exam. Stop being weird.— no (@no) 1631486198
Cool... because that didn't happen.https://twitter.com/jakeshieldsajj/status/1437151295144554500\u00a0\u2026— Trent Reinsmith (@Trent Reinsmith) 1631481148
why does information you dont like trigger you so easily?— Backyard Referee (@Backyard Referee) 1631635002
You should try talking to this guy called Jake Shields who noticed how hawt she is.pic.twitter.com/HV38ZJOWYY— Diamanda Hagan (@Diamanda Hagan) 1631483955
lmaopic.twitter.com/RnZNGNsPp4— Critical Based Theory (@Critical Based Theory) 1631435513
Shields has since stopped obsessing over trans women and gone back to his regular Twitter focus of anti-vaccine pandemic denial.