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Gable Steveson extended heartfelt wishes to Georgian and American mixed martial artist Merab Dvalishvili on receiving the 2025 ESPY Fighter of the Year honor. Steveson was a heavy favorite at the 2025 NCAA Championships, representing the University of Minnesota but lost to Oklahoma State's Wyatt Hendrickson in the heavyweight category in the final.
Steveson became the first four-time Big Ten champion after defeating the unbeaten Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State in the final. He capped his collegiate career with the first loss in the Nationals since 2019, and since then, the 25-year-old has been vocal about making strides in MMA.
Recently, he congratulated the current UFC Bantamweight Champion, Merab Dvalishvili, who won the 2025 ESPY Fighter of the Year honor. A member of the Takedown family alongside Steveson, Dvalishvili won the UFC 316 title for the third time against Sean O'Malley and cemented his status as one of the most legendary players. His execution on the event night earned him the Performance of the Night award. Steveson wrote,
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"Congrats"
Early in June 2025, the Olympic gold medalist shared a frame with Sydicate MMA coach Wood as they watched Merab Dvalishvili train for UFC 316. He shared pictures of them watching the Georgian MMA wrestler in action and appealed to the fighters to consider him if they needed a coach.
Gable Steveson had a brief stint in WWE after signing with the company in 2021. He left in 2024 after only a televised match that received an underwhelming response.
Gable Steveson once expressed his wish to become a UFC champion
Gable Steveson, who had sporting experiences in WWE and the NFL, trains in mixed martial arts and often expressed that he would want to see himself as the UFC champion one day. In conversation with Overdogs Podcast in May, the two-time NCAA Division I champion shared that he has been honing his skills in a way that he doesn't have to stop after kicking off his career.
"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."
Gable Steveson won his first Olympic gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, defeating Geno Petriashvili from Georgia. He became the first American super-heavyweight to claim Olympic gold in freestyle since Bruce Baumgartner in 1992.
