Young MMA fighter, Shalie Lipp, from Colorado, met her unfortunate end in a horrendous car crash on Sunday.
Lipp was behind the wheel of a 2015 Chevrolet Malibu, which collided with a 2017 Jeep Cherokee headed eastbound on the I-94 highway connecting Fargo and Moorhead.
Apparently, Lipp was the only person in either car who wasn’t using the seatbelt, which proved to be fatal for the up-and-coming fighter. She was scheduled to take on Natalie Gauge at Ignite No Mercy 11 on May 20 for the flyweight title at the Kent Freeman Arena in Detroit Lakes.
In a heartbreaking revelation, Lipp’s mother, who found her journal said that the youngster would write in her personal record “Dana White will know my name’.
UFC boss Dana White, who came to learn of the accident through flyweight fighter Lauren Murphy, posted a picture of Lipp on Instagram with the caption that read “Shalielipp I KNOW YOUR NAME……. RIP".
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White further added “She is a 21-year-old amateur MMA fighter who just passed away in a car accident. She was supposed to fight on May 20th and just got home from training in Thailand. Her mother found her journal and I guess at the end of every entry she would write “Dana White will know my name.” Lauren Murphy called and told Mick Maynard the story and it broke my heart. My condolences to her family and friends."
Lipp had just returned from a training camp in Thailand, where she had travelled to sharpen her skills in MMA and Muay Thai.
Eric Sweeney, Lipp’s coach was devasted by his student’s untimely passing and said “My heart is absolutely broken. You were such a wonderful human, full of promise and drive. One of the few people I’ve ever met that was truly reaching for greatness. And I will never forget you. It is beyond my mind’s capacity today to think that I won’t see you this week …or ever again. We were just cracking the code."