Martial Arts Org Changes Rules After Women Were Forced To Compete Against Trans-Identifying Men

A Martial Arts organization announced a change to its rules after female competitors were forced to compete against trans-identifying men without being told that they were taking the mat to grapple with biological males.

The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) said it has revised its rules after female athletes backed out of competitions — after being “terrified” and “scared” following competitions against transgender athletes at recent events, the New York Post reported.

The new rules from the organization state that trans-identifying men can only compete against biological men, the outlet noted. NAGA said “male-to-female transgender athletes who have gone through male puberty are excluded from competing in the female division at NAGHA events. Transgender females must compete in the men’s division.”

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— Ansleigh Wilk (@Ansleigh_mma) November 1, 2023

“We hope that the simplicity of this revised policy will help to avoid any future occurrences where transgender females enter women’s divisions,” the policy added. “If NAGA staff is informed that a transgender female is in a women’s division, they will be given the choice to go to the man’s division or given a refund.”

NAGA said its prior rule was that female competitors were given the choice to fight trans-identifying athletes. However, president Kipp Kollar said that when a competitor registered for an event they were only asked if they were male or female with no option to specify whether they identified as transgender.

Jayden Alexander was left in tears and afraid after fighting a biological male at an event in July. She then pulled out of future competitions after being left “devastated,” the outlet noted.

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“The simple fact of the matter is that men, signing up in a combat sport to fight women, is absolutely unacceptable,” Alexander said. “The experience was horrible and scary … I was absolutely in fight or flight mode.”

“We don’t deserve to self-exclude from competitions to avoid fighting men,” she added. “We deserve for there to be rules and regulations put into place that keep us safe and that protect us from these situations happening in the first place.”

Another competitor, Ansleigh Wilk, posted several videos on X after she ended up having to compete against a trans-identifying man despite not being warned ahead of time that would be the case.

“They felt so strong, I was like, ‘Oh my God’ … I thought I couldn’t take them down,” Wilk said.

In one video, she said despite the fact that she had ultimately won, the issue wasn’t about winning — but instead about “giving a voice” to Jayden and other girls who had faced similar scary situations. She concluded by asking how this could ever be acceptable. “I can’t believe people actually think this is okay.”