After Olympic wrestling gold, Gable Steveson pursued by Minnesota Golden Gophers football, UFC, WWE

(This story first published at USAToday.com)

Gable Steveson’s life changed in a matter of seconds – 6.5 to be exact.

That’s the amount of time it took for Steveson to score another takedown of Geno Petriashvili for gold at the Tokyo Olympics in the men’s 125-kilogram freestyle category.

The gold secured for Steveson an automatic bid to the 2021 World Championships, a spot he rejected formally Sunday night. Now that he’s reached the pinnacle on the mat, Steveson, 21, might seek glory in a different avenue.

“I’ve reached the point, that pinnacle of wrestling … I’m trying to make noise. I’m trying to impact people,” Steveson told USA TODAY Sports on Friday. “I’m trying to (show) the world that you can be a wrestler and you can make it out and do it big, just like how I’m trying to do it. It’s most definitely an influential thing for me to do this for kids like me out there that maybe didn’t grow up with much that can see that they can end up with a lot.”

Since returning from Japan, he’s flirted online with UFC president Dana White. WWE will host him at SummerSlam this upcoming weekend. There have been conversations with Minnesota Golden Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck. All three entities are vying for his future services.

Not that any of those doors wouldn’t have opened if Steveson didn’t come back against Petriashvili. Having a gold medal made it that much easier, he said, and having options was something he dreamed about as a kid.

“It’s really cool to see that type of attention brought to me, especially for a wrestler that’s not really mainstream but is getting mainstream attention right now because of that gold-medal match,” said Steveson, who spoke through his partnership with clean energy drink company Kill Cliff.

He noted that he wasn’t the only U.S. wrestler to benefit from the golden publicity and mentioned Tamyra Mensah-Stock, the women’s 68-kilogram freestyle champion whose story led to her mother receiving a customized food truck last week.

“Now I’m in that spot, I’m just going to soak it all in, just do one step at a time,” Steveson said.

Step one involves more conversations with Fleck and the Gophers’ coaching staff.

“(Fleck) wants me to go out there and give it a shot,” Steveson said.

Last Thursday, Steveson attended Gophers training camp and watched defensive line drills. Steveson said Fleck has told him he’d be a three-technique defensive tackle.

Between similar hand movements and leverage philosophies compared to wrestling, plus his explosive skills, “I think that’s the best spot for me,” the 6-foot-1 260-pound Steveson, who could add more weight to his frame to play football, said.

Gophers defensive coordinator Joe Rossi didn’t seem optimistic of the team’s chances to land Steveson while talking to reporters last week, but said they had a spot for him.

“I think he would do really well in the run game. I think he would do really well rushing the passer,” Rossi said. “Frame, the skill set, that Aaron Donald guy. I think they got similar strength and twitch and short-area burst.”

If he does play football, that will likely mean one last year of college wrestling, Steveson said. But the possibilities provided by the WWE or UFC might lure him away from Minnesota.

Beyond money, Steveson is looking for a future that will allow him to have a good time.

He also wants to pick the place that is going to push him “so I could get the most out of myself.”

“And they could get the most out of me, too,” he said.