Gable Stevenson is going to be an MMA fighter.
The former WWE star will trade the squared circle for the octagon as it’s been confirmed that Stevenson will have his first professional MMA fight at LFA 217 on Friday, Sept. 12 from Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn.
The 25-year-old is notable for becoming the youngest freestyle wrestler to ever win Olympic gold at super heavyweight in 2020.
Stevenson then made the transition over to professional wrestling in 2021. He was signed to the WWE and was actually drafted to RAW in 2021. However, Gable wouldn’t make his in-ring debut until 2023 at The Great American Bash and though the match was criticized and booed heavily by fans. That was his first and only professional wrestling match in NXT.
Stevenson did have a dark match with Cedric Alexander in January 2024, but he was ultimately released in May 2024. It was never revealed publicly why it didn’t work out, though Gable stated during his Uncrowned interview that it just wasn’t the right time for him.
"After I signed with WWE, I tried to go back to wrestle [in the amateurs], and you can't consistently do one foot in, one foot out of everything. As later time had gone on, it just wasn't the right thing and I wanted to keep wrestling and keep going in that direction. WWE had a different direction. Obviously, it's no hard feelings, it's never bad blood. I got to see Paul Levesque (Triple H) at the UFC (309) event and we had a brief convo and everything was very civil and very nice. It was great to see him and Stephanie (McMahon) backstage. Everything is good. There's no hard feelings on my end.
"They knew at the time I wanted to keep being competitive and it was just a little bump in the road. It happens."
So he tried the NFL and signed with the Buffalo Bills. This was the first time that Gable has ever played any professional football. So it wasn’t a particular surprise when he was released during preseason. The former WWE star has been quiet ever since. Him jumping ship over to MMA wasn’t a surprise as he immediately started training with Jon Jones and an MMA team.
His opponent is Braden Peterson, a man with a 1 - 0 record. He’s a relative newcomer who scored an impressive knockout back in July.
There’s no telling how well Gable will do in his upcoming fight, but all eyes will surely be on him. It’s not unheard of for an Olympian turning to MMA as Daniel Cormier, Ronda Rousey, and Henry Cejudo are some of the more popular names who competed in the Olympics. It’s quite possible that Gable can be another great. We’ll just have to see on September 12.