Floyd Mayweather fights MMA fighter Aaron Chalmers in London
Liam Harrison Forced to Withdraw Due to Injury
Boxing Hall of Famer Floyd “Money” Mayweather will make his long awaited in-ring debut in the U.K. on Saturday, February 25 as he now faces pro MMA fighter and “Geordie Shore” star Aaron “The Joker” Chalmers in an exhibition bout live from the famed O2 Arena in London.
It was previously announced on social media that Mayweather would face Muay Thai star Liam Harrison, however Harrison has since been forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.
“I was originally supposed to face a different opponent, but injuries happen and I’m glad that Aaron Chalmers could step up so that we could give the fans what they want,” said Mayweather, who famously stopped British superstar Ricky Hatton in a 2007 welterweight title. “The fans in the U.K. have always been great to me and supported me throughout my career, so an event like this has been a long time coming. I’m excited to add more history to the O2 Arena in London.”
“I’ve been training with Adam Booth in the boxing gym and I’m eager to make a name for myself in the boxing world,” said Chalmers, who owns a 5-2 pro MMA record, including four Bellator outings. “I jumped on this opportunity immediately. It’s an honor to share the ring with one of the greatest fighters of all time and I’m definitely going to take advantage of it.”
Mayweather’s exhibition tour has seen him compete in electrifying exhibition contests in Dubai, Japan and Miami in recent years, with London now the next on his world tour of delivering memorable action in his signature “Money” Mayweather style. The event is presented by FrontRow Entertainment, who created the FrontRow series to build the sport of boxing and were behind Mayweather’s last two exhibition bouts. Additional details will be announced shortly.
Who is Aaron “The Joker” Chalmers?
Aaron Chalmers was born 26th May 1987 in Newcastle.Now 35, he is a retired mixed martial artist and reality television personality. He competed in Bellator MMA and appeared in the reality shows Geordie Shore, Ex on the Beach and Just Tattoo of Us.
He has three children: Romeo, Maddox, Oakley.
Having previously practised Muay Thai, in May 2017 he had his first MMA fight, beating Greg Jenkins. He won his second bout at BAMMA 31 at the SSE Arena beating Alex Thompson by KO in September 2017. His third and final fight for BAMMA was a TKO win against Karl Donaldson in December in his home town, at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle.
In March 2018, Chalmers announced he would be joining Bellator and had his first fight against Ash Griffiths on 25 May 2018 for the Bellator 200 event at Wembley Arena. He won the fight via technical submission in the first round. In his second outing, Chalmers suffered his first defeat as a pro fighter, defeated by American Corey Browning by submission in the third round. In June 2019, Chalmers returned to the win column with a submission victory over Fred Freeman. Chalmers next faced Austin Clem in a welterweight bout at Bellator 240 on February 22, 2020 but lost via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26).
Chalmers announced his retirement from MMA competition in an IGTV video posted on 18 February 2021.
He then turned professional as a boxer in February 2022, managed by David Haye's former trainer, Adam Booth. He was due to make his pro boxing debut on April 2nd, on the undercard of Savannah Marshall vs Femke Hermans, but that was then changed to June 17 to a Nathan Gorman card, where he won a 39-37 points win over Alexander Zeledon.
He has 2.3 million followers on Instagram.
