Trans-identified female MMA fighter accepts challenge to fight male UFC champion

Mack Beggs, a trans-identified female, has accepted former UFC fighter Jake Shields' challenge to a fight. According to Outkick, Beggs accepted the offer in a now deleted instagram post and said, "I’m specifically going to $@#% you up Jake Shields."

On April 20th, Shields challenged the 10 toughest trans men in the world to a fight. After 5 hours the post had over a million views, but still no challengers. Shields said, "I fight them with no training camp and no rest between each fight."

Beggs said in a statement, "We are just going to make this an official call out, but Jake Shields I will take you up on your offer." 

"But the offer isn’t going to be 10 versus one and 10 trans men you’re going to be fighting for the rest of the night," Beggs continued.

"You’re going to do it right. If you’re going to call yourself a fighter do it f***ing right. Like, that’s just f***ing disrespectful. It’s disrespectful to the sport of MMA for you to just be like ‘oh yeah let me just call out 10 trans men and I’ll f***ing whoop them,'" Beggs said. "It’s the fact that y’all are so fixated and hyper-fixated and have some f***ing fetish with trans women that you even forget that we f***ing out here and we going to f*** you up."

Shields responded to the news on Twitter where he said, "My offer is legit so have they/them contact me and they can start putting together their team."

Shields posted a picture of Beggs and said, "this thing thinks it can beat me in a fight."

Beggs is a biological female who made headlines in 2017 for winning a state wrestling championship in the girls division while taking testosterone for transition. Beggs was also featured on ESPNs 30 for 30 to discuss the controversies surrounding competing in the girls division after Beggs was denied entry to compete in the boys division due to state law. 

Shields is a former UFC fighter who hasn’t fought professionally since he lost to Ray Cooper III in October of 2018.