HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Gable Steveson believes MMA is bound to be in his future.
The 21-year-old Olympic wrestling gold medalist is confident he’ll one day step in a cage to fight. Whether or not that ends up being his next career move following his successful campaign at the Tokyo Games remains to be seen.
Steveson is eyeing options in pro wrestling, the NFL, and MMA – having visited with officials from the UFC, Bellator, and PFL. Steveson has yet to reveal which way he’s leaning, but he knows if it’s not MMA, that move will eventually happen.
“It’s always going to be there,” Steveson told MMA Junkie. “I’ve hit a point where I’ve reached that stage where winning an Olympic gold means you’re the top dog in the world at the heavyweight division. To go to the UFC, WWE, PFL, Bellator or whereever, whoever I accept, I think it would be cool to go out there and win and represent myself at the highest fashion.”
If Steveson were to cross over into MMA, he’d be the first heavyweight to have won an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. He’d also be the second Olympic wrestling gold medalist to compete in MMA behind former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo.
At just 21 years old, Steveson has been focusing solely on wrestling and knows there’s work to be done to be able to compete in MMA at a high level. And he has no problem with that.
“(I’ve trained MMA) just here and there,” Steveson said. “Not full time because I’ve been focusing on full-time wrestling, so I know there’s a lot of things I need to get right.
“Everything is a learning experience. I’m still learning how to wrestle to this day. I’m still maturing on the wrestling mat. So if I switch to fighting, I know I have to get my hands right and it’s just a new learning experience. I’m here to hit all the learning curves and hammer them out. I’m here to put my best foot forward and take on new challenges.”
Now or later, Gable Steveson sees MMA move as inevitable: ‘It’s always going to be there’
