TRANSGENDER woman Anne Veriato will fight a man on her MMA debut - because she says she is "too good" to fight a woman.

The Brazilian, 21, faces Railson Paixao at strawweight at Mr Cage 34 on March 10.

Anne Veriato will make her MMA debut against a man after switching from jiujitsu Credit: Golders/Portal A Critica

Veriato is switching to the brutal world of mixed martial arts after regularly beating men at jiu-jitsu, in which she is a brown belt.

She told mmafighting: "It’s only fair to fight men.

"It never crossed my mind to fight a woman because I think I’m too good.

"If I beat men my entire career, I can still beat them despite the hormone process.

Brazilian Anne Veriato says she gets sporting satisfaction from beating men Credit: Golders/Portal A Critica

Anne Veriato feels she'll keep beating men even after more hormone treatment Credit: Golders/Portal A Critica

"I only know that I’m good after I beat men. That’s what makes me happy and hungrier to train. I don’t think it’s fair to fight women.”

Mr Cage promoter Samir Nadaf explained his firm response when Veriato's team asked him to give her a chance at the event in Brazil.

He said: "My answer was ‘I can give you an opportunity, but at Mr. Cage, men fight men, it doesn’t matter if you have a penis or not. If you were born a man, you’ll fight a man.’

"[She] said ‘that’s exactly what I want.’”

Mr Cage 34 will see the MMA debut of 21-year-old Brazilian Anne Veriato Credit: Golders/@viriatoannebjj

Veriato has won many medals in jiu-jitsu tournaments fighting against men.

And several of her training partners have swapped the mats of that sport for MMA cages.

She added: "I’ve been fighting jiu-jitsu for years, and I wanted to do something different.

“A lot of people in my team fight MMA already, and I wanted to do it as well.”

Anne Veriato regularly beat men during her 14 years doing martial art jiu-jitsu Credit: Golders/@viriatoannebjj

UFC chief Dana White wants Rick's Japanese Katana swords for his weapons collection on Pawn Stars

But she revealed how shocked men were to fight her at jiu-jitsu - let alone lose to her.

She said: ”When I entered the mat to compete, they always thought I was in the wrong category, asked for documents and everything.

“My opponents and their teams always said ‘You’re fighting her? OK, this is going to be easy.’

Gym training at Manaus in Brazil is honing Anne Veriato for her first MMA fight Credit: Golders/Portal A Critica

"Every time I won, they would come up to me and apologise. I kept competing and winning tournaments, and people started to respect me.”

Veriato explained how she began her gender transformation years ago, persuading her to ditch gymwork for martial arts.

She said: "I left the gym for a while and when I came back, no one recognised me.

"It’s all good now because they were used to it, but it was different in tournaments.”

Anne Veriato says she never considered fighting women as she switches to MMA Credit: Golders/@viriatoannebjj

Veriato will not be the first transgender person to appear in MMA.

American Fallon Fox, 42, became the first transgender athlete in MMA history in when she fought in 2012.

Fox has five wins from six fights, but her last bout came in September 2014, when she secured a first-round stoppage over Tamikka Brents.