A Female MMA Fighter Is Stepping Into The Cage With An Internet Troll Who Doesn’t Believe Women Can Beat Men

Photo Credit: SocietyNine/ Anna McCauley Dempster/ Facebook

Anyone who has spent any amount of time looking through comments on a post about MMA, jiu-jitsu, boxing, or any martial art has probably encountered a keyboard warrior. You know the type — he talks a big game, seems super confident that he knows what he’s talking about, but thankfully (for him) never has to prove himself outside of the internet world.

The minds behind the McDojoLife page on Facebook are basically specialists in calling these types of people out. They call themselves a “movement” and say they focus on bringing attention to “martial artists with shady business practices; martial artists that lie about their rank, fight record, or lineage; pedophiles who are still in business; and techniques that are horse s*** such as no-touch knockouts, mysticism, and things like that.” Yesterday, they were sent these screenshots from a public comment thread:

It’s pretty standard fare for those of us (especially women) in the martial arts world. But rather than just letting this troll go on his merry way, McDojoLife decided to put their money where Zylinski’s mouth is. They put a public offer out for $1,000, plus paid flights and accommodation for any 160-lb woman to fly out to Gainesville, Florida to take on Zylinski in an MMA fight.

“We decided to go all-out on this one because we have simply seen this crap way too much. We see a lot of ‘macho’ guys post and comment on our page all the time about what they can do,” said a representative (who wished to remain anonymous) for the McDojoLife page. “Finally we said, ‘Prove it.’”

It didn’t take long for Anna McCauley Dempster, an Oregon native with a 7-0 amateur MMA record, to reach out and set the date of the fight for January 6. “[It’s] pretty ballsy considering that is only like four weeks away. But she wanted a piece of this guy really bad. Her credentials are legit,” said McDojoLife.

Locals who know or know of Zylinski have chimed in on the thread, saying that he’s a part of the local comedy scene. One commenter described him as a “real edge-lord who got off on telling rape jokes and offending the audience.” Multiple locals also sent messages to McDojoLife to tell them more about McCauley Dempster’s future opponent. “From what we can tell, he has made quite a few enemies in town from his trolling online. We actually had a few people from Gainesville thank us for making this fight happen because he has tormented them,” said the page’s representative.

Although McDojoLife is happy to make this particular fight happen, they do still believe that the separation of weight classes and genders in combat sports is a good idea. “I do believe in the ‘any given Sunday’ rule as well though,” said the representative. “If a 110-lb man was to fight a 220-lb guy and they both have the same amount of time training, then the 110-lb guy will lose. That is the same for any gender though. Now if a 130-lb female who trains were to fight a 145-lb male who didn’t, then my money is on the woman all day.”

Even though this is just one fight, McDojoLife (and many of their followers, to be sure) see this as so much more than one internet troll having to step up to the plate and stand behind his words. “There are a lot of factors in a fight, and when you say a woman trained in martial arts cannot beat a man of equal size who doesn’t train, you are not only disrespecting women, but you are disrespecting martial arts.”

Related: MMA Fighter Anna McCauley Dempster Speaks Up About Her Decision To Take A Match With An Internet Troll

For anyone concerned that Zylinski might not show up to the fight, McDojoLife has promised that McCauley Dempster will still get paid regardless of whether or not her opponent decides to fight her. They’ve also started a GoFundMe to finance the necessary costs for the match, and a percentage of the money raised will go to McCauley Dempster as a fight bonus. If Zylinski does show up, McDojoLife has said that they will be streaming the event live for anyone who can’t attend in person.

We’ll be posting updates about this event as we get them, but for now, mark your calendars for January 6 to watch Anna McCauley Dempster and Kristopher Zylinski square off in Gainesville, Florida.


41 COMMENTS

  1. Objectively this is the only way to prove or disprove the whole women can’t men debacle going on. Post all the stats, research and whatever else you want. At the end of the day only a real 1v1 fair fight would matter. If he doesn’t show up, well that only confirms he can’t put his money where his mouth is. Post all the “logical arguments” you want, but if you can’t back it up with real results then sorry you’re just making a lot of unproven theories. This goes for both men and women. Make this happen!

    • objectively would be having her fight an amateur male mma fighter that weighs around the same wouldn’t it? this dudes just a shit talking comedian who has probably never been in a fight in his life.

        • yeah I know, but I’m not talking about his specific claim, but the idea behind it. the idea being that if men and women are both trained, and are the same weight class, men would win the majority of the fights. (he’s taking it even further and saying that even random dudes that never fight would beat mma class women, which is not true)

          • Super late reply. Well as already stated by Pat yeah… I wasn’t talking about trained women going against trained men in the same weight class. But about his very specific claim about untrained men being able to easily beat women, even trained ones. About how women training in unarmed fighting is basically almost useless and etc. As already stated in my OP, it’s time for him to prove his own “theory”. Unless of course he chickens out.

          • I think that most people would agree that MOST of the time a trained man will beat an EQUALLY trained woman of the same weight class.

            I completely agree with that, and I’ve had my butt handed to me by women in the past – so obviously it’s not an “all the time”. (occasionally, but less common, I’ve even lost to a smaller woman).

            There’s something to be said for muscle mass, and anyone with 5 mins of biology class under their belt knows that men build it faster.

            But this guy doubled down with “it’s pointless to teach girls fighting because they aren’t strong enough to do the moves” and is really going to town with “ANY man can beat ANY woman and her training doesn’t matter…”?? HAHAHAHAHAHA

            My ONLY objection to this fight is that it won’t necessarily prove him wrong. If it’s an 80/20 she could reasonably be expected to win one out of five fights.

            For it to be conclusive, she needs to kick the crap out of him twice, or better yet kick the crap out of him and another of the posers on this comment board so we can’t call him the outlier. Better still, arrange a wave of these fights any time you get a bunch of punks who are trash talking…

    • Useless opinion, bucko.
      Looks exactly as stated in headline: “…Female MMA Fighter Is Stepping Into The Cage With An Internet Troll Who Doesn’t Believe Women Can Beat Men”

      What’s” fair and accurate” about such lame, unfounded empty boasting? The dude must be a Trump surrogate.

      Can’t wait to see his ass kicked, face pummeled, bleeding embarrassment.

  2. I don’t even have much interest in MMA or professional fighting in general, but man would I love to watch this brainless troglodyte Zylinski get his ass stomped on.

    Delusionalism is so pervasive (and continues to go unpunished) in modern society that it seems like the only to extinguish outdated, disproven ideologies these days is to beat them out of people.

    Since he wants to, let’s start with him.

  3. I’ll put my money where my is. I am a white belt in BJJ older gentleman and I will $1000 to any BJJ woman blue belt or above who can make me tap in a BJJ match. You won’t see my women running at this offer because they don’t have the strenght to win.

  4. Ok. My martial art is historical sword fighting. Not with live steel, but with swords made of rattan. In armor. Over 30 years of experience. I can say with certainty that this guy is a complete cockwaddle and will most likely get his ass handed to him on a plate.
    It is not the sex of your opponent that defines them, but their skill.
    I have beat many women in fights. And have also lost to many women in fights. Occasionally, when facing a very skilled woman, I have lost very fast as in “What the f**k was that!” kind of fast. I have to laugh when I get beat that fast!
    And I really do not think size has much to do with it. A skilled fighter will know how to handle a larger / taller / shorter / heavier opponent.
    Also, Way back in the 80s I was stationed with a guy from the Philippines. He had to be waivered into the Army as he was 3 inches under the minimum height. He was small, short, the nicest guy you ever met. And we always told him no bar fights until we could get bets laid. Because every time we went out as a group, some drunk would want to beat up the little guy.
    He was a lifelong student of Escrimma. I think the longest fight I ever saw him in was about 10 seconds long, and that is only because he was drunk off of his ass as much as the guy he was fighting.
    Because of him, I have never picked a fight.
    You have no idea of the skill set of the guy or woman you picking on. So I will watch with interest and will bet that Anna will win easily.

    • I should add that in my sport, there are no weight classes, no division of any sort. A new fighter can enter a tourney and get a skilled fighter with 30 years of experience, male or female. The odds are that the newer, less skilled fighter will lose, but not always. And many times the more experienced fighter is thrilled to the moon if after the fight, he can help his opponent with how to improve. Working on how techniques, learning blocking moves.
      “Any given fighter can beat any other fighter, on any given day.” is a reminder that is spoken quite often.

  5. Any man who’s practiced a real martial art for any significant length of time knows that women can beat men, and has been beaten by at least one. And one way or another, every white belt’s first real sparring match is a loss full of painful lessons. What makes a fighter is how they handle that.

    It’s not uncommon for the inexperienced to believe they’re better than they are and talk up their game. What’s unknown here is: first, will Zylinski show up; second, if he does, will he take the lessons to heart; third, if he doesn’t show, will he look deep within himself and think about why.

  6. In fairness, he did say “80%”. So if she does beat him, it’s just the 20% outlier.

    I think she should beat the hell out of him twice. Or him and one of the other douchcannons in this threat that are agreeing with the guy…

    I’m a guy with some fighting training – probably less than her – and in the same weight class. My guess is that she could beat me…

  7. A trained woman in BJJ blue belt or above can not beat a man who is a white belt. A man has too much strenght. I will take strenght over technique any day, especially over a woman. The stronger survives.

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