Former UFC star Jake Shields has launched a series of explosive tweets aimed at transgender MMA fighter Alana McLaughlin following her victory.
The former member of the US Army Special Forces stopped Celine Provost by submission in the second round of their bout at Combate Global: Perez vs Roa.
McLaughlin became the second openly transgender woman to fight in MMA after Fallon Fox, who hasn't fought since her win over Tamikka Brents back in 2014.
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Fox, whose controversial involvement in MMA was slammed by the likes of Joe Rogan, has helped McLaughlin in her fighting career.
The 45-year-old American was also cageside for McLaughlin's win over Provost at the Univision in Miami last Friday.
But not everyone is a fan of her venture into the sport of MMA, with Piers Morgan criticising her participation.
One-time UFC welterweight title challenger Shields also blasted McLaughlin for fighting women, firing shots at her on social media.
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In one tweet, he said: "This is just insane that any fight show or commission would allow a trans person to fight a women."
Another reads: "This is the 'women' mma fighter that they just allowed to beat up a girl in Florida So brave of 'her' to transition then live 'her' dream of beating up women."
He quote-tweeted Fox's post, with the caption: "Heres two trans 'women' celebrating because they've both beaten up real girls This is sick and perverse and will only get worse if we sit back as a society and pretend it's okay."
Shields added: "Waking up and seeing Dozens of messages of hate mail I can see I was wrong and apologize to the trans community Alana McLaughlin is clearly a real beautiful, brave and talented women and I wish her well beating up girls in Womens MMA."
McLaughlin posted a defiant message on social media in response to her critics.
On Instagram, she wrote: "Good morning, friends, supporters and others! I'm getting a lot of variations of the same nasty messages calling me a cheater like I didn't just get beat on for a round and a half.
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"Y'all need to show [Celine Provost] some respect and take your concern trolling elsewhere. She almost finished me more than once, and on scorecards she definitely won that first round.
"This is the only post I'll make about this. Transphobes are just making my block hand stronger."
Featured Image Credit: PA/Combate GlobalTopics: UFC