Gay MMA Fighters – Is It A Big Deal?

Even today, there is still clearly a stigma around gay fighters in the UFC. Whilst there are many lesbians fighting at various different weights on the roster, there is not an openly gay man who does, or has fought in the UFC. In 2020 alone, there were over 600 active male fighters, compared to 107 women on the UFC roster. This is not just a strange occurrence in the UFC either, we researched across a lot of fight promotions worldwide such as Cage Warriors, Bellator, ONE, Junglefight, and various others, yet could not find an openly gay man.

All in all, it would seem strange that there are a handful of lesbians in the 107 woman roster, yet no homosexuals in well over 1000 male fighters – approximately a 10 times larger sample.

Part of the reason why there are no open homosexuals is likely due to the ridicule they would receive upon announcement. Most people clearly do not care who a fighter likes to sleep with. However, there will be a vocal minority who cannot stand what they hear.

This is not helped when fighters like Israel Adesanya hump their opponents after they’ve been knocked out. Something which is not appropriate in any sport, let alone martial arts. Homosexuality is turned into an even stranger topic when the manager of Paulo Costa, Walid Ismail quoted “Adesanya has homosexual instincts and he should be studied by science”. This short sentence sums up why some fighters want to remain in the closet, there is simply too much drama around being homosexual.

Strangely enough a gay assemblyman in New York state compared MMA to gay pornography in order to get it banned. Whatever you think of MMA, or homosexuals, this comment is clearly political and divisive. MMA doesn’t have anything to do with being gay, the same way it doesn’t have anything to do with being straight. It is simply a fight between two competitors. There is certainly nothing sexual about being punched in the head or having your arm broken.

In short, this comment shows you the lengths politicians will go to in order to get what they want. Trying to put gay people in to a box when you are gay yourself is one of the lowest things you could possibly do and certainly doesn’t help the sport.

When Will There Be An Openly Gay UFC Fighter?

In my opinion, there will likely be a gay UFC fighter if and when sponsorships are changed. Currently, all UFC fighters must wear Reebok shorts and are not allowed to organize their own sponsors.

If there was a UFC fighter who came out of the closet, currently the financial incentive is smaller. If fighters were allowed to wear whatever sponsors they liked on their shorts, you can guarantee there would be a lot of hype around a fighter who had just come out of the closet. This would attract a bidding war to see the first openly gay vs straight fight. You may think that this is blowing things out or proportion – but people would genuinely be interested in a fight that hasn’t happened before.

After this, the hype would eventually die down and after some time it would be normal to be a gay MMA fighter.

Do People Care About Training MMA With A Gay Person?

Overall, most people who train martial arts could not care less if somebody they train with is a homosexual. After all, you’re there to train, not to date each other.

However, there will of course be people in class who do not want to train with a homosexual. It’s likely that these people will not have a logical reason as to why they don’t want to train with a gay person, but it is very unlikely that their minds will change. The only real way to train with these kinds of people is to partner with others and then gradually over time they will change their minds once realizing gays are normal people too.

Gay MMA Fighters

The list of gay male MMA fighters is very short, whereas the list of lesbian MMA fighters is growing every year.

Men

• Shad Smith – Not hugely successful in the cage, but was the first openly gay MMA fighter ever
• Jordan Faulkner – Also not hugely successful, but as of now, only the 2nd gay MMA fighter

Women

• Amanda Nunes – Arguably the most successful gay MMA fighter ever, defending her title(s) 7 times
• Germaine de Randamie
• Jessica Aguilar
• Nina Ansaroff – Married to Amanda Nunes
• Liz Carmouche