Gable Steveson was touted as the future of the UFC heavyweight division with limitless potential but his undefeated run came crashing down around him on Saturday night at UFC 331.
Despite being an overwhelming favorite to win, the Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling saw his dream turn into a nightmare after Sean Sharaf uncorked a hellacious left hook just seconds into their fight as he scored a jaw-dropping knockout just 12 seconds into the opening round. The Los Angeles crowd seemed to revel
in Steveson’s downfall but the 26-year-old prospect didn’t help matters much when he eventually got up from the canvas and just walked out of the octagon without offering his opponent any kind of congratulations much less sticking around long enough for Bruce Buffer to announce his victory to the crowd.
Social media immediately went crazy with criticism aimed at Steveson for his behavior and he also received some harsh words from both Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan, who were calling the fights at UFC 331 on Saturday.
“I think Gable made some mistakes in there,” Cormier said after UFC 331 ended. “You’re a 4-0 fighter. Wrestle. You have to. Also, you stand there and you take your licks whenever you lose. You let that man get his hand raised and you stand there no matter how you feel.
“If you’re concussed, cry —I did it! There’s the truth! But you take your licking whenever stuff [doesn’t go your way].You cannot be a great winner but then an ungrateful loser and I think that was bad by Steveson.”
For his part, Rogan believes that Steveson just bought into his own hype too much and the expectation was that he would walk through Sharaf and move to 5-0 in his young career. Instead, Steveson was absolutely demolished by an opponent with an 0-2 record in the octagon.
“I think the odds and the hype got to his head and he felt he couldn’t be beaten,” Rogan said about Steveson. “He stood there flat-footed and Sean just uncorked a picture-perfect left hook. He dipped and then hooked and caught him on the chin. The chin, the head snaps back. Out cold.
“It was one of the greatest storybook, Cinderella stories. It has to be without a doubt the biggest odds ever.”
Cormier never endured the same level of attention early in his career but he understands the hype that was surrounding Steveson from the first day he made plans to compete in MMA.
He can’t say for certain what comes next for the Olympic gold medalist but Steveson’s obviously got a lot to learn after a very humbling loss like the one he experienced at UFC 331.
“I was fighting at a different level, I wasn’t in the UFC,” Cormier said. “But the reality is he’s new to this and Sharaf had no respect for him. Gable’s an Olympic champion and maybe people expect other people to respect that but they’re not going to.
“Sharaf was not having any of it. He went in there to knock Gable Steveson out and he did.“
