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Mitrione banned for 'unacceptable' Fox comments

Matt Mitrione is set for a spell away from the Octagon © Getty Images

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UFC suspended the contract of Matt Mitrione on Monday after the heavyweight made disparaging remarks about transgender female fighter Fallon Fox.

"She's not a he, he's a he," the 34-year-old Mitrione said on the Internet-based talk show "MMA Hour."

"He's chromosomally a man. He had a gender change, not a sex change. He's still a man. He was a man for 31 years, 31 years. That's a couple years younger than I am. He's a man. Six years of taking performance de-hancing drugs you think is going to change all that? That's ridiculous.

"That is a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak. And I mean that."

Fox was recently cleared by the Florida State Boxing Commission of any wrongdoing after failing to disclose that she was born a male on her application for an MMA fighting license.

The 37-year-old Fox revealed her original gender to SI.com on March 4, two days after she knocked out Ericka Newsome 39 seconds into their Championship Fighting Alliance featherweight quarter-final bout in Coral Gables, Florida.

"The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione [on Monday] in an interview on the 'MMA Hour,' " the promotion said on its website.

"The organisation finds Mr. Mitrione's comments offensive and wholly unacceptable and - as a direct result of this significant breach of the UFC's code of conduct - Mr. Mitrione's UFC contract has been suspended and the incident is being investigated.

"The UFC is a friend and ally of the LGBT community, and expects and requires all 450 of its athletes to treat others with dignity and respect."

Mitrione, a former NFL player who was given the nickname "Meathead" during his participation on Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter" by then-coach Rashad Evans, improved to 6-2 on Saturday with a first-round knockout of Phil De Fries in Stockholm, Sweden.

This article first appeared on ESPN.com

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