Olympic star Gable Steveson sets sights on UFC glory after announcing MMA training

During a recent interaction on the OverDogs Podcast, Gable Steveson expressed his wish to become the UFC heavyweight champion.

In late March, Steveson's legendary amateur wrestling career ended with a shocking loss against Wyatt Hendrickson in the 2025 NCAA Division I heavyweight championship.

Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA Division 1 national champion, has since attempted to pursue ventures in the NFL and professional wrestling (WWE).

The former University of Minnesota wrestler had this to say about prioritizing an MMA career:

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"I want to put the gloves on. I want to be a UFC star. I want to be a champion. I want to hold that belt up high and be in the heavyweight division. I think the main thing is taking the time with it and making sure everything is polished and right, so when I do shoot off that rocket ship, there's no stopping. That's the main thing right now."

Check out Gable Steveson talk about eyeing the UFC heavyweight title below:

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Gable Steveson promises to "fight to the death" when opportunity arrives in the UFC

The UFC heavyweight division is led by reigning champion Jon Jones and interim title holder Tom Aspinall. The world-class fighters are expected to unify the division's throne later this year.

While appearing on the aforementioned podcast, Gable Steveson was asked about opponents he's interested in fighting in the 265-pound division. He responded by saying:

"When Jon [Jones] finally hangs it up, the next best guy in the line is Tom Aspinall. Someone's gotta take that off his shoulder. You always wanna go against Tom Aspinalls. You always wanna go against [Ciryl] Ganes. You wanna go against [Alexander] Volkovs. You wanna go against Serghei [Spivac] and you wanna put on your best performance, but honestly, it don't matter."

Steveson continued:

"There's never been a time where I ran from somebody else and now it's not gonna be the time and now when the day comes where I gotta stand in the octagon and gotta look at another dude in the eye and fight to the death, sh*t we gonna fight to it."

Check out Steveson discuss a potential fight against Aspinall below (second slide):

About the author

Jake Foley is a journalist at Sportskeeda, specializing in covering all forms of combat sports, including MMA, Boxing, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai. His passion is ignited by the exceptional fusion of physical and mental skills demanded by world-class fighters in these sports. Jake is captivated by the intricate mix of fierce determination and a modest mindset exhibited by athletes in these disciplines. He also finds the atmosphere of major championships, like the epic clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, truly unparalleled.

Jake has earned his UFC credentials to cover the major events for Sportskeeda and has conducted several interviews.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi