Fighters react to transgender boxers competing at 2024 Olympics

Things got controversial at the 2024 Paris Olympics when video of a transgender athlete (male to female) was seen absolutely battering her opponent in a women's boxing competition.

Imane Khelif failed gender tests ahead of the event and has been banned from competing at other events due to her gender status but was able to compete at the Olympics versus Brianda Tamara. "When I fought with her I felt very out of my depth,' she wrote on Twitter. "Her blows hurt me a lot, I don't think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it's good that they finally realized."

Khelif is scheduled to fight Italy's Angela Carini on Thursday and she't not the only transgender athlete competing in boxing. Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting is also competing in the women's divisions. When the video of the fight and the news of both athletes being allowed to compete, several fighters stepped forward in protest.

Former UFC champion and current Bellator champion Cris "Cyborg" Justino called for regulators to "protect the integrity of the sport. "We must protect the integrity of women’s sports. I would not compete," she wrote.

She's not alone in her sentiment. Boxer Ebanie Bridges also spoke out writing, "These transgenders competing in women’s Boxing AT THE OLYMPICS… male born transgenders, is f*cken sickening. It’s f*cken disgusting that the Olympic committee would let these guys/girls who still look like men compete against women. And these biological men who want to compete in women’s boxing must be saddists or something cos any man knows how much stronger they are than females and it’s also why a man hitting a women is so bad.. the biological difference IS REAL. What the f*ck. Honestly unbelievable and sick."

UFC fighter Carlos Hernandez asked, "How’d & why did they allow this?" While Arnold Allen asked, "What’s going on at the Olympics?" Female UFC fighter Casey O'Neil also called for a rule change. "This should not be ok, especially in a contact sport like boxing… where he is literally trying to KO a female, as a man…"