FALLON FOX

Transgender women especially feel like we have to fit the binary system to a T in order to not be recognized as trans.

I did wrestling in high school; that helped, as far as technique goes.

I miss being able to throw down with other elite-level women, to be considered among the best.

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.

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.

Some people believe I have an automatic advantage over other female MMA fighters, so they think 'well she has to be stronger, because she used to be a male,' but if they look into the science of it and what the hormones do to the body, to the male body once taken over a period of time... it dissipates.

I think when kids are younger, they don't have these preconceived notions of what a transsexual person is.

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.

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.

Where I came from, it was more shocking to be an atheist than to be transgender.

I consider myself a woman. I happen to fall into the transgender category, but I rather describe myself as a woman first.

Getting choked out feels a lot better than getting knocked out.

The first time I got called 'Miss' that felt amazing.

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 looking for a way to lose a little weight and discovered MMA and its disciplines, and I fell in love with it.

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 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 like playing video games in my spare time.

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'm female. I'm human. Sometimes I dominate and sometimes I'm dominated.

I don't believe that a transgender fighter should have to disclose her personal medical history to other female fighters before they fight.

I felt like I was going to hell just for putting on women's clothes.

Winning a pro tournament is another step toward getting fights against higher-ranked opponents.

I do not have a competitive advantage when fighting another woman.

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.