Olympic Wrestling Medalist Gable Steveson Explains Why He Wanted to Try Striking Only: “Staying on the feet is going to scare a lot of people”
Gable Steveson is known for his exemplary wrestling pedigree, but his recent performance showcased how much of a threat he is becoming as a striker. This was made evident through Steveson’s debut in Dirty Boxing Championship recently, where he notched his first-ever knockout. The fifteen-second finish was a perfect highlight reel piece for the DBX social media channels.
The Olympic gold medalist wrestler and 1-0 pro MMA fighter spoke about this recent DBX win during a post-fight interview on The Ariel Helwani Show. When touching on opponent Billy Swanson’s attempts to trash-talk and seemingly make things personal heading into their DBX 4 heavyweight main event clash, Steveson said,
“You poke the bear too much and look what happens. I was super motivated. Even after the press conference, I went to the gym probably 10 p.m. to midnight, you know, we’re all in there just training, having a good time. So, it definitely burns the fire in me and I kinda wanted to go out there and really put it on him even harder after that.”
“If you believe in yourself, why not try things that scare you? And definitely staying on the feet is going to scare a lot of people, but that day didn’t scare me.”
“You’ve seen me—I didn’t throw any strikes my first LFA match, so I wanted to go out there and kind of be like, ‘Hey, let’s handicap Gable. Let’s go out there and kind of show the world that he can be comfortable in the ring, not pull punches, have good head movement,’ and I think I did a fair enough job to go out there and get a job done.”
Gable Steveson wants a future in the UFC, and Dana White has his eye on him
Gable Steveson has professed a desire to eventually sign a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, with the promotion’s figurehead indicating he is aware of what the surging MMA prospect is getting up to. Dana White expressed this during a recent appearance on The Jim Rome Show and sang the praises of the Olympic gold medalist wrestler.
White described Steveson as a freak athlete, someone the promotion is keeping a close eye on, and it seems like the UFC CEO/ president enjoys the fact that Jon Jones is training with Steveson to shape his career prospects in mixed martial arts.
