Did Queen Latifah and Jon Jones Just Change the Heavyweight Division Forever? Gable Stevenson Explains
This is how Gable Stevenson was motivated to go into MMA by Jon Jones and Queen Latifah. Gable Steveson had already achieved what most wrestlers spend their entire careers chasing: an Olympic gold medal.
At just 21 years old, the University of Minnesota standout defeated Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 10-8 in the final with a dramatic takedown as time expired, then celebrated with his signature backflip. By conventional measures, Steveson’s wrestling journey had reached its peak. But watching another superstar in the bright lights of Madison Square Garden would reignite an ambition he’d been quietly harboring since he was a teenager.
How Jon Jones and Queen Latifah Changed Gable Stevenson’s Path
Steveson first connected with Jon Jones through social media in 2023 when “Bones” noticed the Olympic wrestler’s Instagram content. Jones sent him a direct message and his phone number, inviting him to join his training camp. Steveson took the opportunity seriously when Jones was preparing for his match to face Miocic at UFC 309 in late 2024.
Steveson accepted fully, and the two hit it off immediately. While wrestling had provided Steveson with a clear pathway, MMA felt different. He needed someone to show him the way, to translate the intangibles of elite competition into a different sport. Jon Jones became that person.
During the UFC 309 training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the true turning point came when Jones brought Steveson to the Knicks game at Madison Square Garden following his UFC 309 victory. Walking through the arena alongside Jones, Steveson witnessed firsthand the magnetism of being a fighting superstar.
“I went to Madison Square Garden with him and Jon was just doing Jon things, you know, just being a superstar. Everybody knew who he was and I was like, ‘Man, you know, I got an Olympic gold medal… maybe I should be getting some, too,'” Steveson recalled in an interview with Joe Rogan.
What unfolded afterward crystallized Steveson’s vision for his future. He held the UFC belt alongside Jones and saw him face-to-face as the most celebrated person in the building for that moment.
Meeting Queen Latifah
Walking out of the arena, Steveson spotted Queen Latifah and asked for a selfie, one he sent to his mother. He saw Fat Joe and other celebrities congregating around Jones. “I’m like, ‘Wow. Like, this is what it is to be like a real fighting star,'” Steveson said, understanding that fighting, unlike other sports, centers entirely on the athlete themselves, not a team or franchise.
“I went to Madison Square Garden with him and Jon was just doing Jon things, you know, just being a superstar. Everybody knew who he was and I was like, ‘Man, you know, I got an Olympic gold medal… maybe I should be getting some, too.’ … I’m holding the belt with him and like I see this guy face to face and you know, he’s just the most popular man on earth for that day.
“And it’s kind of like, wow… I’m walking out the Knicks game and I see Queen Latifah and I’m like, ‘Damn, that’s Queen Latifah.’ And I’m taking a selfie with Queen Latifah… And I see Fat Joe talking to him and everybody. And I’m like, ‘Wow. Like, this is what it is to be like a real fighting star.’”
Gable Stevenson in MMA
Stevenson had competed at the Olympic level in wrestling but had virtually no striking experience and no knowledge of how to defend himself in MMA exchanges. When he began training with Jones, Steveson’s inexperience became immediately apparent. “Joe, I kid you not. I didn’t even know really how to defend punches. I didn’t know how to defend punches,” Steveson confessed to Rogan. In one training session, he carelessly charged at Jones with a takedown attempt despite Jones being an elite wrestler in his own right. Jones responded with a flying knee that sent Steveson crashing to the mat.
Rather than deter him, the bruising introduction strengthened his resolve. “I didn’t know how to defend a punch. I didn’t know how to defend a kick. I didn’t know how to do anything. But I went in there and I said, ‘Hey, if you need somebody, it’s got to be me.’ And that’s how hungry I was,” Steveson explained.
Steveson studied Jones’s mentality, his way of greeting people, his footwork, his hand placement, his timing for strikes, and his knowledge of opponents’ tendencies. For Steveson, accustomed to relying on raw athletic dominance in wrestling, this analytical approach represented a entirely new framework for competition. “I really sat back and watched his mentality, how he went about a lot of things, how he talked to people, how he greeted people, how he walked, how he punched, maybe how he looked when he was in the pocket, when he needed to get out, when he rested his hands, and I saw everything,” Steveson reflected.
By September 2025, Steveson made his MMA debut at LFA 217 in Prior Lake, Minnesota, with Jones in his corner. Facing Braden Peterson, Steveson made short work of the encounter, securing a first-round TKO in 1 minute and 38 seconds.
His second outing came faster still, a dominant 24-second knockout over Kevin Hein at Anthony Pettis FC 21 in November 2025, in which Steveson was moving to secure a takedown before his opponent had even hit the canvas. Jones praised his protégé’s rapid development, describing him as having “the perfect formula” for MMA success and predicting he would become a UFC champion when he fully masters boxing and jiu-jitsu.
