Invicta's Bec Hyatt, and the absurdity that followed a 'used underwear' auction

Since debuting with the all-female Invicta FC promotion earlier this year, strawweight Bec Hyatt has forged a special relationship with fight fans. It’s a relationship that some folks have apparently misunderstood.

This past week, the 24-year-old Australian fan favorite wrapped up four eBay auctions of fight-worn gear to fund a training trip to North America.

However, as Susan Elizabeth Shepard of Sports on Earth (a USA TODAY Sports Media Group sister site) recently explained, the auctions had unintended consequences – namely, perverted projections of their purpose. As one headline read, “Today In Classy MMA News: Somebody Paid $300 For Bec Hyatt’s Used Underwear.”

Specifically, that writer focused on Hyatt’s weigh-in gear that was up for bid. From Sports on Earth:

In that story, Brandon Stroud wrote “turning over your gear – or in this case, the clothes you wore before you even put ON your gear – is an easy way to pop a couple hundred bucks from a collector. Sorry, autocorrect got me there. An easy way to pop a couple hundred bucks from a creep.” Elsewhere, references to Hyatt’s “panties” and “used undies” elicited the kind of tittering comments you’d expect from boys excited to look at a Victoria’s Secret catalog. Which would be understandable if Hyatt was participating in the worn underthings secondary marketplace to sell lingerie to fetishists.

But that, of course, wasn’t the case. A female fight fan from Australia won two of Hyatt’s auctions, and the grassroots Fund a Fighter website won the other two (and told Hyatt they’d give her the money but that she could keep the gear).

For for the full story, head over to Sports on Earth.