Shalie Lipp, an amateur mixed martial arts fighter, died in a car accident in Minnesota on Sunday morning, according to multiple reports. She was 21 years old. Lipp was one of the two passengers in a 2015 Chevy Malibu when it “made contact” with a 2017 Jeep Cherokee that was carrying three passengers on the Red River Bridge in Moorhead, according to Valley News Live. Lipp was the only person in the cash not wearing a seat belt. The driver of the 2015 Chevy Malibu was 35-year-old Joseph Trottier, and passengers in the other vehicle were not injured. The accident is currently under investigation.
Lipp was set to compete in the main event of an Ignite Fights show called “No Mercy.” “It’s been a very teary 24 hours since I got the news that Shalie Lipp is no longer among us and has made her way to heaven,” the promotion company wrote in a Facebook post. “She was an amazing soul along with of course being a great athlete and person. She was a friend to everyone at Ignite Fights and I can only imagine how many more. She was the definition of someone who lit up a room and gone far, far too soon, I can’t imagine with her work ethic and talent what she would have accomplished.”
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The fight was scheduled for May 20 and Lipp was scheduled to take on Natalie Gage. “She had an amazing work ethic she had only been back a few days from a month of training in Thailand,” No Mercy promoted Jeremy Bjornberg told MMA News. “At 19 years old, she started fighting the top fighters in the Midwest. … She was someone everyone knew was going to go somewhere and end up in the UFC.”
Lipp had a 3-2 amateur MMA record. She won her first two MMA fights before losing to Cheyanne Bowers in March 2022. According to Kare 11, Lipp grew up in northwestern Minnesota where she competed in track and field and gymnastics in the communities of Breckinridge and Perham.
