Brazilian jiu-jitsu is very peculiar as a hobby. It sort of immerses the practitioner deeply within a special lifestyle which is basically a subculture on it’s own.
After Fallon Fox, the female transsexual MMA fighter who has recently been the center of much controversy, BJJ also has it’s own trans athlete and competitor: BJJ black belt from Toronto, Canada: Alaina Hardie.
Alaina Hardie was awarded her BJJ black belt in 2017.
She has been very active in recent years competing in various female divisions in grappling and BJJ. Only recently has she done her public coming out.
Alaina with Eddie Bravo
In this podcast, Alaina talks about how she believes that there is no scientific evidence that transsexual athletes have unfair advantages over other athletes. She also expressed her total support for Fallon Fox:
“I am, like Fallon, a transsexual athlete,” she said in this interview. “I met Fallon when we both did the ADCC Trials in 2009. And at the time I had no idea she was transsexual, and she had no idea I was, either. I just thought she was like every other non-trans female grappler out there.” After adding each other on Facebook, she and Fallon didn’t stay in touch that much, until she saw the news in March of this year that Fallon had come out. “Immediately I e-mailed her and was like, ‘Look, girl, I totally got your back.
I’m also a trans athlete.’ And we had a little, brief conversation about it at that point. But I became a very outspoken advocate.” Our discussion also examined some of the scientific issues involving transsexual athletes, as Alaina describes herself as a “science nerd”.
She mentioned the positive support she has received since coming out as a trans athlete from so many people in the jiu-jitsu and grappling communities, how there is no scientific evidence that transsexual athletes have unfair advantages over other athletes, why if someone came up with the money for a long-term study of trans athletes “I would run it myself”, the neurological differences between those who desire to become transsexuals and those who do not, her brief experience as a transsexual amateur boxer in Ontario, her experience coming out on Facebook, her work with robotics and why “robots are awesome”, her support of the citizen science movement, and much more.
This is one of Alaina’s matches:
Joe Rogan On Trans Issues: I don’t Mind Until It becomes A Sports Competition Between Genders
She has competed against Black belt world champion Hillary Williams:
