The North American Grappling Association (NAGA), the largest submission grappling association in the world that facilitates standards and tournaments in various martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, has allowed in a slew of "transwomen" competitors, including Corissa Griffith, a biological male who took home a whopping four gold medals in the women's category at a tournament in Georgia on October 21.
Since its inception in 1995, NAGA has provided competition categories for both males and females. Only recently, though, has NAGA decided to allow trans "women," aka males, to join the female side of the competitions.
The issue first received attention back in September when a female Brazilian jiu-jitsu athlete named Taelor Moore learned at an event, but was not previously informed, that she would have to compete against James "Alice" McPike a male, who was 65 pounds heavier than her at the time – check out the photos below:
The North American Grappling Association has revised their gender identity policy after a 135lbs female jiu-jitsu athlete was matched to compete against a 200lbs trans-identified male.
James "Alice" McPike took home silver in the women's category.https://t.co/NEhNZxr6iT
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) September 15, 2023
(Related: Check out this earlier report we published featuring Selina Soule speaking out against males invading female sports.)
The only thing a man has to do to compete with women is to "identify" as one
After video footage of the mismatch went viral, NAGA issued a statement clarifying its policies on allowing trans-identified males to compete in the women's category:
"NAGA does not require biological women to compete against transgender women. Instead, we give the choice to the biological women and if they decline, they compete in a division only with other biological women."
Along with this statement, NAGA provided a link to its official policy, which states:
"For those who chose not to compete with the transgender female, we will inquire if they have an interest in entering a separate division which includes the transgender female. This additional division will be offered at no cost to those competitors. However, if individuals decline this opportunity, the transgender female will be directed to compete with the males in their respective weight and skill level category."
Despite policy stating that female athletes must first be informed before being paired up with "transwomen" athletes, NAGA did not tell Moore in advance that she was going to have to fight McPike.
Other professional female martial artists such as Jayden Alexander and Ansleigh Wilk have also had to fight males with no prior warning.
"I honestly never thought this would actually happen in a contact sport, especially not my contact sport," Alexander, who is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt, is quoted as saying. "When I saw him, I was so shocked I didn't know how to respond."
Both Alexander and Wilk had to fight Cordelia Gregory of Temporal Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy, who is one of many trans-identified males who currently participates in NAGA women's tournaments.
"I hadn't been notified," Wilk says about her experience. "The only thing that brought it to my attention was my teammates. They kept asking me 'are you fighting a man' and I was honestly too focused on coaching the rest of the crew to really pay attention to my opponent."
"I realized very quickly I couldn't muscle them like most girls. Well obviously, because it wasn't a girl! Then not long after, I had to do a second match of which Cordelia threw a tantrum saying [he] 'didn't tap [out].' I was sincerely scared [he] was going to punch me when I stuck my hand out to shake [his]."
The latest news about the trans-ification of sports can be found at Transhumanism.news.
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