Creepy media falsely accuse Bec Hyatt of auctioning used underwear

Bec Hyatt recently auctioned off on eBay.au four sets of gear, in order to fund a training excursion to the US and Canada. Hyatt sold:

•Her walkout T-shirt;
•A pair of signed gloves;
•A sports bra and laminate pass; and,
•Her weigh-in gear, which consisted of her own branded shirt and a pair of hot pants from Australian clothing line Pillfreak.

A number of creepy sites took this mean Hyatt was selling her used underwear on EBay, implying that what she was doing was a little creepy, too.

For example, lowlights form a piece a Uproxx.com include:
•Today In Classy MMA News: Somebody Paid $300 For Bec Hyatt’s Used Underwear
•She’s not exactly pulling in Ronda Rousey money, so 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.
•An easy way to pop a couple hundred bucks from a creep. You do what you’ve gotta do.

However, as Susan Elizabeth Shepard details, the only creeps were people making something out of nothing about it.

   Fans are aware of the financial realities of MMA, so maybe it seems possible that a fighter would do that, even if it seems slightly less plausible that this particular fighter -- one who's nicknamed "Rowdy," sports neon tattoos and a shock of platinum hair and is mother to two boys -- would. Hyatt undertook the auctions to raise funds for a trip to North America. "I've been planning a trip to Canada and the U.S. for training and I needed to raise money and I realized I had a really good fanbase that love me and adore me, and they're always asking for signed pictures and signed merchandise," she said yesterday over the phone from Brisbane, Australia. "I thought that if I did an auction they'd be more generous bidding on my fighting stuff because they get something in return, and yeah, they loved it, and the auctions were really successful.

   "I was raising all the money on my own, but my major sponsor Americana are bringing me out to Toronto so I don't have to pay for a huge lump of my fights now. Otherwise I'd have to raise it all by myself, which is what I was gonna do in the beginning. I don't have money just sitting there because I won't be fighting until next year."

   Used panty sales weren't a part of her fundraising plans. For one thing, eBay is notoriously strict about the sales of used clothing, mandating that used items be laundered. For another, the buyer wasn't a male underwear aficionado. The winning bidder was, in fact, a woman, a fan who wanted to add to her collection of fight memorabilia. "One Australian, she won two of the auctions, my signed gloves and my weigh-in attire," said Hyatt. The other two auctions were won by Fund A Fighter, who told Hyatt to keep the memorabilia and to consider the bids a contribution to her fundraising.

   "A lot of people assumed there were creepy people trying to bid on my underwear, but it actually turned out to be a lady who collects memorabilia. I just think that when it comes to women's -- I guess they look at it as underwear," said Hyatt. "It's just my weigh-in gear. But people automatically think it's some creep who wants to smell them in their basement."