It has been proven time and time again: Olympic medalist = Success in the UFC. Ronda Rousey, Kayla Harrison and Henry Cejudo have all hung up their Olympic medals for MMA gold. We have also seen the transition from NCAA wrestler to UFC contender. Brock Lesnar and Daniel Cormier used their skills honed in the NCAA to capture UFC gold and despite his somewhat underwhelming fight against Paul Craig, Bo Nickal has still been tipped to be a UFC champion by the aforementioned Cormier. Does that mean that it is only a matter of time before Gable Steveson arrives and stamps his name amongst the annals of the UFC greats? I am a huge Gable Steveson fan and I truly believe that in terms of skill set he has the potential to be a force to be reckoned with in MMA. But is the hype dooming him to never fulfil this potential? Or are we truly preparing to witness a new unstoppable force enter the UFC arena?
As a caveat, I am a huge proponent of wrestling when mixed with other styles to maximise its success. I don’t like the fighting style that solely utilises wrestling with no attempt to damage or submit just purely racking up control time. Daniel Cormier is the perfect example of combining vicious wrestling skills to establish finishing opportunities and positions. For those who are unaware of Gable Steveson, he is a 6 foot 1, 265lb powerhouse who has won every accolade possible in freestyle wrestling. A 2020 Summer Olympic gold medalist, two-time Dan Hodge trophy winner, a two-time NCAA Division 1 national champion and three-time All-American. During his journey to capture 4 state titles, Gable amassed a 171-match win streak and firmly cemented his name in heavyweight wrestling history. Gable was then presented with 4 lucrative roads to take his career: Continue his Freestyle wrestling career, attempt professional wrestling, try his hand at American Football or begin a career in MMA. In 2020 Gable would be signed to the WWE and despite being here for 4 years, his career would never get started and he was released in January 2024. He would then be snapped up by the Buffalo Bills on a three-year deal despite never playing American Football before. This would be short lived and he was released just three months into his contract.
As the doors began to close for Gable he has decided to return to his comfort zone and re-signed for the Minnesota Gophers wrestling team. He intends to use this opportunity to train for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Despite this move, I do believe that MMA is in the future of Gable Steveson. To put into perspective his wrestling prowess, his skills were recently utilised by none other than Jon ‘Bones’ Jones for his camp against Stipe Miocic alongside Gordon Ryan, the BJJ GOAT in his own right. In Jones’s own words ‘“I kneed him in the face at one of his very first practices. He ate it, and he looked like a little kid who had just found a new toy.” Jon Jones stated at the UFC 309 presser, discussing Gable Steveson. “He’s going to be scary, he’s going to be very scary when he decides to do MMA. He knows how to make men appear very weak, me being one of them. When he learns how to box and learns a little about jiu-jitsu, it’s not a matter of if he’ll become UFC champion, it’s when he becomes UFC champion.”
I don’t think that much higher praise can be bestowed on someone who has never fought MMA in his life and from potentially the MMA GOAT himself. At 24 years old, Gable has years to build his arsenal and become a seriously dangerous adversary in MMA. The only reservation I have is that Steven had 4 doors open to him, it appears that 2 have been abruptly closed due to unfulfilled potential.
Time will tell what happens to the career of Gable Stevenson, on one hand he has been deemed a future champion by the greatest UFC fighter of all time, on the other hand he may be a phenomenal olympic wrestler who fails to diversify these talents into anything else.
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