Alana McLaughlin was a soldier in the U.S Army Special Forces before becoming undergoing gender reassignment surgery
Alana McLaughlin created history by becoming the first transgender athlete to compete in an MMA contest since 2014, when she took on Celine Provost at Combate Global on the 10th of September, 2021.
She beat Provost via. submission due to a rear-naked choke in the second round to make an impressive debut.
However, her win was subject to much controversy. Many people from the MMA community stated that it was not fair for a transgender athlete to compete against women.
Provost who has been competing for more than 10 years, had no clue about defending the barrage of strikes coming from the debutant, McLaughlin.
Some chimed in saying, despite turning a woman, she would still have the bone structure and muscle density of a man – totally unfair in respect to the female competitors.
English broadcaster, Piers Morgan, who usually has his say in almost every other controversial topic, ripped into McLaughlin, requesting the organizers to stop “such insanity.”
In fact, only a few voiced out in favour of McLaughlin.
Alana McLaughlin before surgery
Alana McLaughlin served in the US Army as a soldier predominantly in terror-stricken Afghanistan.
As is usually the case, McLaughlin (like most other soldiers) suffered from PTSD due to her time served in the US army.
She was a special forces medical sergeant – a 12-man team sent to Afghanistan in the year 2007. Treating IED casualties was her specialization, and McLaughlin could even perform minor surgeries.
It was only in 2016, she decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Something she had been wanting to, from a very young age.
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