Bridges, 39, has found support from a surprise place<\/a> as Watford fighter Courtenay lauded the Aussie\u2019s return to the ring and had kind words for her former foe, after becoming a mum during her absence from boxing.<\/p>\n![\"Shannon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1_Benn-v-Vargas-Fight-Night.jpg\")
Shannon Courtenay has made a shock gesture to Ebanie Bridges following their feud(Image: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)<\/p>\n
On her Instagram story, Courtenay wrote: \u201cPeople don\u2019t realise how hard it is to have years away from boxing & comeback the same as before!<\/p>\n
\u201cEbanie Bridges hold your head high girl there\u2019s no shame in losing your first fight back after having time out, the same happened to me but you just gotta get straight back in.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet yourself a good couple wins & we\u2019ll get the rematch on, still a big fight people want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Bridges\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_image-18.jpg\")
Bridges shared Courtenay’s message to her Instagram<\/p>\n
Bridges reposted the touching message on her story, saying: \u201cThank you Shanny sounds like a good plan to me x.\u201d She also added: \u201cPs \u2013 \u2018Did we just become best friends\u2019\u201d alongside a picture of Will Farrell and John C. Reilly playing Brennan and Dale in the comedy movie Step Brothers.<\/p>\n
The two fighters were previously embroiled in a war of words before their world title fight at the Copper Box Arena in London back in April 2021. Bridges was dealt the first defeat of her professional career via unanimous decision after Courtenay gave her a gruesome black eye to win the vacant WBA female bantamweight title.<\/p>\n
Bridges\u2019 lingerie weigh-in was centre to the animosity, as the Blonde Bomber explained her reasoning behind her choice of outfit, saying: “I feel like women’s boxing needs more eyes on the sport.<\/p>\n
![\"Ebanie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1_Screenshot-2026-01-07-154052.jpg\")
Bridges’ lingerie weigh-ins were a major talking point ahead of the fight<\/p>\n
“We need to do whatever we can. This same way I’ve got noticed is the same way I’m getting this fight noticed.<\/p>\n
“What does matter is what happens in the ring. If we can get as many people as possible to watch the fight, then Shannon and I can show to a more diverse number of viewers that women can fight.<\/p>\n
“I think me winning this world title will show people you don’t have to be like everybody else to achieve these goals. That’s what I’m going for.”<\/p>\n
However, Courtenay was very critical of Bridges\u2019 lingerie antics and argued: “I can understand why she’s saying she wants to get more eyes on the sport, but I want to get more viewers for the correct reasons.<\/p>\n
![\"Ebanie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2_JS232445060.jpg\")
Ebanie Bridges was left with a huge swelling over her left eye following her brutal bout with Shannon Courtenay(Image: REUTERS)<\/p>\n
\u201cKatie Taylor didn’t work her backside off to pave the way for women like Ebanie and me to talk about underwear.”<\/p>\n
She added: “I’ve got a 14-year-old sister, my coaches have daughters. I want to be a good role model and show them hard work and motivation gets you here. Not flaunting your body.”<\/p>\n
Courtenay, now 32, never got the chance to defend her title in the ring after the original fight date against Jamie Mitchell was postponed due to her suffering an injury in training.<\/p>\n
The rescheduled bout a month-and-a-half later saw Courtenay fail to make the required weight a day before the fight and was stripped of the belt. The bout went ahead and Mitchell claimed victory and the vacant title.<\/p>\n
Courtenay later took almost two years off between December 2022 and October 2024. But the Brit is rebuilding her career after signing for Jake Paul\u2019s MVP in July 2025, the same promotion as Bridges, and beat Jessica Radtke Maltez on the undercard of Paul vs Anthony Joshua last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ebanie Bridges\u2019 rival has made a surprising gesture after previously taking aim at the \u2018Blonde Bomber\u2019 and her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,58520,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-357652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ebanie-bridges","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Ebanie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_GettyImages-2254538523.jpg\")
Ebanie Bridges has received support from a former rival after her comeback defeat<\/p>\n