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It seems like Olympic wrestler Gable Steveson has caught the attention of Dana White after all.
The UFC president congratulated Gable Steveson on the latter's gold medal victory at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Steveson defeated a three-time world wrestling champion, Georgia's Geno Petriashvili with only a second remaining in the match:
"Congrats on your gold medal and representing the USA," Dana White wrote on his Instagram story today.
With the win, the 21-year-old became the first U.S. 125kg freestyle heavyweight gold medalist since Bruce Baumgartner in 1992.
Dana White's congratulatory message comes after Gable Steveson sent out a cryptic tweet of a waving emoji tagging the UFC chief in it.
Rumors flared that Gable Steveson is making his way to the top mixed martial arts promotion next. These were only fuelled by the UFC as they maintained a banner at the top of their official website with a congratulatory message to Steveson.
The banner links back to the UFC's Instagram post on Steveson's victory.
Gable Steveson: Who wouldn't want to hold the UFC championship?
The U.S. Olympian was inevitably asked to comment on his tweet in the interview that followed his victory. He was also asked to comment on whether MMA is something he would like to pursue next in his career.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Gable Steveson explained the reason behind his tweet at Dana White:
"Who wouldn't wanna be the baddest man on the planet, who wouldn't want to hold that UFC championship? I'm holding the gold medal and I'm the baddest wrestler on the planet. Why wouldn't I wanna go out there and be the baddest UFC heavyweight champion. So, I sent that tweet out to Dana [White]. I'm sure he saw it or someone from his desk got a hold of him. But like I said, all options will be open," Gable Steveson said.
Gable Steveson reiterated the same in a FanSided interview, where he said that he was awaiting an invite to appear on Joe Rogan's podcast and also for Dana White to say "hello" to him. However, he is keeping other avenues open as well, such as WWE and NFL:
"I’m not sure what’s on my mind right now. I’m just gonna take it one step at a time. I’m open to all options, WWE, UFC, NFL. I’m gonna go out there and make the best decision and who knows where I end up in the next few weeks. Everybody’s reached out. I got a lot of people that I know and it’s cool and, hopefully, I think I’m going to speak to Joe Rogan and maybe get on the Joe Rogan show. That’s cool too and I’m waiting for the big dog Dana White to say hello, and when he says hello, well, we’ll get to talking," Gable Steveson said.
