There’s been an incredible amount of discussion around transgender athletes in sports recently. An upcoming documentary, Unfightable , will certainly add to that. That documentary, from La Jaula Studios and award-winning filmmaker Marc Perez, will make a theatrical debut next month in New York and Los Angeles before premiering on Fuse in English and ViX in Spanish. It covers transgender MMA fighter Alana McLaughlin, a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces whose only pro fight to date was at Combate Global in 2021.
The trailer for Unfightable suggests this documentary will be anything but a constant message of support for McLaughlin, who was only the second openly transgender woman to compete in MMA following Fallon Fox in 2014. It prominently features both supporters and critics. Here’s that trailer:
The trailer features comments from McLaughlin on why she’s been looking to compete in MMA, including the opening “Mixed martial arts, it’s a way to sort of reinhabit and reclaim my body” and the “thousands of death threats” she received. It also has comments from Combate Global CEO Campbell McLaren (0:25, “You look for a fighter that you can really create a story about, and certainly Alana deserves an opportunity”).
And this trailer prominently features some of McLaughlin’s supporters. Those include Outsports journalist Karleigh Webb (1:25, “We just want to live, and compete, and work, without the need to personalize, take trans, cis, gay, straight, whatever, out of the equation”) and former Athlete Ally director of policy and programs Anne Lieberman (1:41, “People have a lot of feelings about trans athletes, it’s not actually backed up by the facts of what is actually happening”).
But the trailer also prominently features former MMA fighter, controversial Twitter/X personality, and noted McLaughlin critic Jake Shields . And some of Shields’ comments here are as harsh as anything heard in recent transgender athlete debates . (It should be noted that many of those started with inaccurate and poorly-sourced claims about Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, who has filed several lawsuits and criminal complaints over allegations that she is transgender.)
Some of Shields’ remarks here include “Alana says she’s a woman, but the truth is she was born a man, she grew up a man, has the lungs of a man…I think she’s a man who is taking advantage of the system” (1:05) and “Pretty soon, there will be no women’s sports, there will just be men who couldn’t hack it as pros and they’ll switch and become women and dominate women’s sports.” So that’s definitely some potentially-controversial discussion.
It’s certainly interesting to see a figure like Shields featured in a documentary like this. And it’s notable to see a person like Shields making those kinds of women’s sports remarks (along the lines of what we’ve seen from a lot of ESPN personalities recently) in a documentary not only centered on a transgender athlete, but one featuring extensive comments from her and those who support her.
And the end Unfightable documentary here feels worth keeping an eye on. It opens in New York on Sept. 13 , in Los Angeles on Sept. 20 , and will premiere in English on Fuse and in Spanish on ViX following that. Here’s more on it from an Aug. 7 release on Fuse Media’s acquisition of the film, their first theatrical foray:
“Alana McLaughlin’s story reflects Fuse Media’s true mission: celebrating diversity and inclusion and vocally supporting and confirming any individual’s understanding of their true identity,” said Miguel Roggero, Chairman and CEO, Fuse Media. “We are proud to celebrate the trans community by sharing this important documentary as we continue to push the boundaries of the types of stories we tell on an ever-growing number of platforms, including linear, streaming, FAST, and now theatrical.”
“I found Alana’s story so incredibly moving that La Jaula Studios had to be the one to tell it to the world,” said Perez.
We’ll see how Unfightable is received when it comes out. But this is certainly a notable documentary on a widely-discussed topic. And McLaughlin’s story feels relevant to many current discussions of transgender athletes, women’s sports, and more.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter/X]
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