Gable Steveson says training with Jon Jones ‘definitely lit a fire’ to make the move to MMA

Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to Sign Up today.
Sign up

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
90,486
130,183
1732735034489.png

Olympic champion Gable Steveson had plenty of options after capturing his gold medal back in 2021 and that hasn’t changed much as he returns to college for his final year of eligibility at the University of Minnesota.

Following a stint with WWE and playing football for the first time in his life with the Buffalo Bills during the NFL pre-season, the now 24-year-old phenom also popped up recently as one of the main training partners helping Jon Jones get ready for his recent win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. While fighting has always been something Steveson expected to explore in the future, working alongside arguably the greatest of all-time has effectively sealed the deal.

“I do have goals in mind,” Steveson said when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I would love to go to L.A. in 2028. Winning the Olympics in America would be such a big thing, especially having it in L.A. with magnitude of what L.A. is. That’s definitely a big part of why I came back to wrestle. Also, I think a lot of doors are still open. I went to the Buffalo Bills and after that I had a few teams reach out about putting me on their practice squad and that definitely kept me into football, too. But also the door of MMA is slowly starting to open up.

“As I put the gloves on, I really like the feeling of going out there and mixing everything together from wrestling to boxing to kickboxing to jiu-jitsu and putting all the pieces together in one. That definitely put a huge spark in me to do MMA, too. Wherever the path leads me to after this wrestling season is going to be great regardless but the MMA thing, when I tell you it definitely lit a fire under me. Being in that camp definitely put a big, big gas light and lit it really hard and burned the fumes in me.”

Gable Steveson says training with Jon Jones ‘definitely lit a fire’ to make the move to MMA - MMA Fighting
 

buddie

Member
Sep 8, 2024
18
23
He should not waste time with any more NFL practice teams. High injury potential for little reward, especially with guys wanting to make a name for themselves by blowing up an Olympic gold medalist wrestler. If he’s cool with constant travel, WWE might be a good option, but if he wants to fight, I’d say get in and get out with your health and after you retire you can do some WWE appearances if that’s still something interesting to you.
 

RichardGeresMissingGerbil

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2022
182
285
I haven't seen much footage of him training MMA. I wonder how long it would take to get him proficient enough with striking basics to compete at a high level. He has too much of a name to spend significant time working his way up in small organizations and if he definitely seems to be trying to make the most of his current name value.
 

buddie

Member
Sep 8, 2024
18
23
He’s been training a lot with Gordon Ryan and Jon. He’s head and shoulders above most wrestlers in the Olympics and he’s insanely athletic for a guy his size. I think he’d crush all but the very top tier of heavyweights tomorrow without many issues.
 

RichardGeresMissingGerbil

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2022
182
285
He’s been training a lot with Gordon Ryan and Jon. He’s head and shoulders above most wrestlers in the Olympics and he’s insanely athletic for a guy his size. I think he’d crush all but the very top tier of heavyweights tomorrow without many issues.
Lord knows heavyweight could use some strength on the UFC roster.
 

ECC170

Monster's 11,ATM 2,Parlay Challenge,Hero GP Champ
Pro Fighter
Jan 23, 2015
14,545
23,846
ECC170 @ECC170
What are we looking at here from your perspective?
imho could walk into the ufc right now and be a top 5 HW with that Lil training with jbj.. he grew up in Indiana along Aug his big brother who too a sick wrestler, so I've watched his entire from school boy to Olympic champ. As well as Mason parris' living right down road from me etc. This guy is top 5 greatest talents not only in America but the entire world in regards to wrestling.. Dude a 280 pounder thats faster than Aljo.. it's taking jbj of Aspinall to beat him, as we speak.. give him a legit camp and being focused, he has potential be the best ever. He's that talented.