Yahoo Sports Dana White honors amateur MMA fighter who died in car accident: 'I know your name'
Shalie Lipp, an amateur MMA fighter from Breckenridge, Minnesota, died Sunday in a car accident along a highway in her home state. She was 21.
When UFC president Dana White heard of Lipp's death, he posted a tribute on Instagram and revealed Lipp's aspirations to compete in the UFC.
"She was supposed to fight May 20th and just got home from training in Thailand," White wrote. "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."
Other MMA stars commented on White's post, including Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Michael Bisping, Belal Muhammad and Alyse Anderson.
The fight White referred to was No Mercy 11, an amateur event in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Lipp had a 3-2 career record in her fights.
Jeremy Bjornberg, a promoter for the event, confirmed Lipp's plans in an interview with MyMMANews.
“She had an amazing work ethic she had only been back a few days from a month of training in Thailand," Bjornberg said. "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.”
One of Lipp's trainers, Eric Sweeney, added in an Instagram post Monday that she was "a wonderful human, full of promise and drive."
"One of the few people I've ever met that was truly reaching for greatness," Sweeney wrote. "And I will never forget you. It is beyond my minds (sic) capacity today to think that I won't see you this week...or ever again. We were just cracking the code."
Police are still investigating the crash, but Lipp reportedly wasn't wearing a seatbelt when the 2015 Chevy Malibu she was riding in collided with a 2017 Jeep Cherokee, according to Valley News Live. The driver of the Malibu, 35-year-old Joseph Trottier, and the three passengers of the Cherokee survived.
