Could Gable Steveson be a future UFC World Champion?
Last month, it was confirmed that the former WWE star would trade in his boots for gloves as Gable Steveson’s first MMA professional fight was confirmed at LFA 217 on Friday, Sept. 12 from Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn.
Steveson finally had that MMA fight and he showed that he could be a huge player in the sport someday. The bout wasn’t long as Gable was able to use his wrestling prowess to take down his opponent, Braden Peterson, to the mat and beat him with ground and pound that forced the referee to stop the bout.
Plenty of people were impressed with Steveson including his training partner, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones.
“He’s a freak athlete. He’s incredibly fast, powerful, intelligent,” Jones said backstage at the event. “He has the work ethic and he’s shown our team (at Jackson Wink MMA Academy) that he’s willing to humble himself and surround himself with the best, and I think he has the perfect formula to go all the way to the top.”
Where does Gable go from here? Steveson will likely continue building momentum to gain more reps inside of the octagon. At the moment, his next fight has yet to be confirmed by LFA. It’s way too early to have any UFC talk for Gable, but if he continues to put on such a powerful display then he’s guaranteed to show up in the big promotion someday.
Dana White has expressed interest in Gable Steveson in the past. In fact, the UFC CEO reportedly wanted him on Dana White’s Contender Series. This was when both WWE and UFC were interested in him, and Steveson opted to go the WWE route. That failed miserably and so did his attempt to join the UFC. But Gable is young so he still had time to make a career choice and it seems that MMA is the right fit for him. He’s a strong wrestler, so he has tremendous ability there, but these fights will help him better his stand up and defense game within the octagon.