Gable Steveson’s mixed martial arts debut is officially set.
On Tuesday, the LFA announced that the standout wrestling phenom from the University of Minnesota is officially set to make his fighting debut at LFA 217 on Friday, Sept. 12 from Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn.
The event streams live on UFC Fight Pass.
Steveson is slated to face Braden Peterson, who makes his second pro appearance. The 2020 Olympic gold medalist finally puts the MMA gloves on after a storied collegiate wrestling
career, which includes two national championships, two Dan Hodge Trophy wins, and five All-American nods. Steveson recently was part of the WWE developmental system before being released in May 2024.
Steveson then returned to college for his final year of eligibility at Minnesota but suffered an upset loss to Wyatt Hendrickson in the final match of the season at the NCAA Wrestling National Championships.
After the wrestling season was over, Steveson started focusing more on fight training including stops in Las Vegas where he worked with coaches at Syndicate MMA and he’s also counted UFC legend Jon Jones has one of his mentors after helping him prepare for a fight against Stipe Miocic.
With a couple of impressive victories, it seems likely that Steveson could make the jump to the UFC.
Peterson looks to play spoiler in his sophomore pro appearance. In his pro debut, “Bloodaxe” picked up a 14 second TKO win over Chris Thompson for Fusion Fight League, a reigional promotion out of Montana.
LFA is one of the top developmental promotions in the world, and has sent a slew of fighters on to the UFC, or other major MMA promotions. Most recently, LFA women’s bantamweight champ Bia Mesquita signed to the UFC, and will debut at UFC Rio on Oct. 11.
