Having spent some time in the gym with Jon Jones, a highly accomplished wrestler hopes to face his current rival, Tom Aspinall, in the future.
Fight fans are still waiting to see one of the biggest fights of the year which would finally see the UFC’s heavyweight titles get unified.
During his wait for Jones, Aspinall has broken records with his interim title reign but with ‘Bones’ coming towards the end of his career, the division needs new and exciting contenders to test the Brit.
Having trained with Jones in the past, Gable Steveson could be the man to inject some more energy at heavyweight as one of the best wrestlers on the planet.
There have been signs in the past that the former Olympic gold medallist could be working towards a transition into MMA but now, he has clarified his plans for the future.
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Gable Steveson confirms MMA transition with dreams of becoming a UFC heavyweight champion
In a recent appearance on Mike Perry’s Overdogs podcast, Gable Steveson outlined his current career ambitions having previously explored several other potential paths.
The 24-year-old has already tried his hand at pro wrestling and football, signing to the WWE in 2021 before he signed to the Buffalo Bills in 2024.
MMA was another potential route for him to take following his remarkable wrestling career where he won gold at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Steveson has now confirmed that the Octagon is the goal that he’s working towards with dreams of becoming a UFC champion in the future.
“Man, 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 and I think the main thing is, taking the time with it and making sure everything’s polished and right so when I do shoot off that rocket ship, there’s no stopping it.”
Steveson was later asked about which opponents he dreams of facing in the UFC.
He went on to say that he’s looking to test himself against all the best guys in the world, naming interim champion Tom Aspinall as the guy that he expects to remain at the top of the division once Jon Jones calls time on his career.
“When Jon finally hangs it up, the next best guy is Tom Aspinall. Someone’s gotta take that off his shoulder. You always wanna go against the Tom Aspinalls, you always wanna go against the [Ciryl] Ganes, you wanna go against the [Alexander] Volkovs, you wanna go against Sergeis [Pavlovich], and you wanna put on your best performance, but honestly, it don’t matter.
“There’s never been a time where I ran from somebody else and now, it’s not gonna be the time. When that day comes where I gotta stand in the Octagon and look at another dude in the eye and fight to the death, s—, we gonna fight to it.”
Gable Steveson is going about his MMA transition the right way based on his early comments
While Gable Steveson may dream of becoming a UFC champion, that goal is still a long way away in the distance but the accomplished wrestler acknowledges that.
It would be easy for the 24-year-old to earn a fast track to the UFC but it appears that he’s choosing to put in the work behind the scenes before he tries to compete at the highest level.
We recently saw at UFC Des Moines that when another acclaimed wrestler, Bo Nickal, encountered adversity for the first time following a rapid rise, he crumbled.
Nickal’s setback showed that he needs more time and experience to continue his MMA transition and that’s something that Steveson is clearly taking into account.